There tumbles into the scene a strange young woman with a rattan cane in business casual. She comes to a stop near the brook, catches her breath, and sits up slowly.

A small dark rabbit that froze when a strange human showed up out of nowhere resumes nibbling grass. 

"Hi, bunny, don't mind me..." She should maybe be conservative with precognition if she's not going to find any food, but, well, one way to know if she's going to find any food is to check what happens if she were to follow this brook downstream. After alerting Alex. - she can't reach Alex and that's very concerning but she will still check what would happen if she walked along the stream.

She doesn't find anything immediately edible in the first five minutes, after which a serious-looking man in traditional Chinese robes with a sword at one hip and some kind of string instrument at the other emerges from behind her and asks her something in Mandarin. 

Five minutes isn't very long but how does he react to the "I do not speak your language" shtick -

After it is sufficiently established that no, she does not speak any of the dialects he tries, he pulls out the instrument, sets it down in midair in front of him, then plays a few bars of music on it, stops, and plucks a handful of individual notes. 

Somehow, each one is comprehensible as though it were an English word. 

(Who) (are) (you) (How) (did) (you) (arrive)

She doesn't have long to decide what to do here and can't precog and walk at the same time, but he's at least not going for the sword right away. Supposing she tells him her name is Isabella Swan and she doesn't know how she got here -

Each word she speaks causes the instrument to emit a note without his touching it. 

(Do) (you) (have) (any) (guesses) (?)

"Not good ones."

Nod. (Are) (you) (alright)

Yeah, okay, she'll run this in real life. She gets up and picks her way along the bank of the brook, poking suspect areas with her cane.

He catches up with her. Bizarre musical conversation ensues. 

"I'm a little scraped up but not too bad. Where am I?"

(Gu) (Su) 

(Forest) (outside) (Cloud) (Recesses)

"...where is that?"

(Jiang) (nan) (region) (south) (of) (Yang) (tze) (river)

"Okay, I've heard of the Yangtze River. I... don't understand the magic you're using."

(Explain)

"I'm used to there being mages and psions. Translation is something psions can do, but not with... musical instruments."

(I) (am) (not) (familiar) (with) ("mages") (and) ("psions")

"...what's the thing you're doing instead?"

(I) (am) (a) (cultivator) (of) (the) (Gu) (su) (Lan) (sect)

"Well. I'm not familiar with that. And am starting to suspect that you do not have a phone I can borrow."

(I) (am) (not) (familiar) (with) ("phone") (either)

"Uh-huh. Um, what year is it?"

(Three) (thousand) (one) (hundred) (fifty) (three)

"In the calendar used around the Yangtze River with which I'm familiar - before they switched to using a more globally common calendar - it's the year 4707. But uh, fifteen hundred years ago there were mages and psions and were not magical instrument translators so I don't know how useful that comparison is."

(Translation) (between) (humans) (is) (a) (rare) (use)

"Eclipsed of either kind would be rare in this year where I'm from, I think most cultures just killed them most of the time, and it's understood that early eclipsed didn't realize the full range of things they could learn to do, but magic instrument translation would be a very weird manifestation of translation in the magic setup with which I am acquainted."

(Killed) (them) (?)

"New eclipsed are very, very dangerous. In the modern day we can get eclipsed to a safe stage reliably but it was much harder fifty years ago, let alone fifteen hundred, and most low-tech cultures didn't have a way to do it every time."

(Cultivation) (is) (taught) (starting) (at) (a) (young) (age) (Small) (children) (are) (not) (dangerous) (with) (what) (they) (are) (taught) (Not) (having) (cultivators) (is) (much) (more) (dangerous)

"Yeah. I think cultivators must not be the same thing as eclipsed. What is dangerous about not having cultivators, is it just 'other people's cultivators' or what?"

(Yao) (demons) (ghouls) (monsters)

"I don't think we have those."

(if) (so) (good)

"Sounds like it.

Uh, who are you?"

(Lan) (Wang) (ji) 

"Pleased to meet you. I wish the circumstances were better. Uh. I have no way to get home. I think I might be able to contact my brother if I work on it for a while but I can't do it right now. - I'm a psion but not the dangerous kind."

(Dangerous) (kind) (?)

"The uncontrolled new ones I mentioned. I have been controlled for coming up on a decade now."

(Sometimes) (control) (fails) 

(but) (I) (do) (not) (expect) (you) (are) (dangerous)

"Eclipsed don't revert to uncontrolled magic."

Very emphatically: (Good)

"Agreed. Um. Can I have a place to crash, or directions to someplace where I can get one?"

(You) (may) (accompany) (me) (back) (to) (Cloud) (Recesses)

"Thank you. Is it a long walk?"

(Faster) (to) (fly)

He unsheathes his sword, places it in the air in front of his shins, steps up onto the flat of the blade, and holds out a hand.

"Please be aware I'm very unsteady on my feet," she tells him, but then she attempts to climb onto the sword.

His hand is incredibly steady and his grip is implacable. 

The sword rises into the air and starts moving laterally, going not that much slower than a car would. 

She's going to wind up slipping anyway; she can't stand on buses. She grabs rather embarrassingly at his hand and nearly drops her cane.

He's remarkably good at compensating for her inability to balance on her own, and the sword's flight is smooth. 

They break out of the trees, soon enough. A collection of white buildings on a mountaintop looms in the distance, approaching swiftly. 

She'll appreciate the scenery when she's not standing on a flying sword any longer.

He lands, stepping down and waiting until she's completely steady on her feet but not a moment longer before letting go of her hand. 

She plants her cane and manages all right. "Thank you."

"Mn." 

A pair of boys, early teens or still tweens, run up. One of them begins speaking, unintelligible but clearly asking about her. Lan Wangji responds calmly. The talkative one looks a little disappointed, and the other turns to bow to her. 

She will make a sort of attempt at a bow.

"Lan Jingyi," the first boy said, gesturing to himself. "Lan Sizhui," the other. 

"Isabella Swan. .....Swan Isabella," she amends after a moment.

Jingyi tries and fails to pronounce this. Sizhui says something mildly reproving to him. 

Lan Wangji takes out his instrument again. 

(Is) (there) (anything) (you) (need)

"I need food. Uh, more than a normal person but I don't know how much cultivators eat. I'm not picky or allergic."

(Cultivators) (can) (do) (without) (entirely) (if) (strong) (enough) (but) (generally) (do) (not)

(How) (much) (more) (than) (normal)

"Depends how much magic I do. Half again as much is a reasonable guess unless you happen to want me to do a lot of magic."

Pause. 

(What) (can) (you) (do)

"See the future, up to an hour out. I have an eidetic memory. I can usually talk to my twin brother telepathically but I think I'm too far away, I'm going to work on that so he knows I'm alive. My brain works better than a normal person's in a few hard to summarize ways."

(See) (the) (future) (?)

"Yes. I knew you were going to find me before you did it but you were quick enough that I didn't have a lot of time to do anything with the information. Uh, it works like - while I'm doing it, I 'remember' the next hour as it would go if I were not using precognition. I can plan to do things within the precognition and see what happens as a result but doing very complicated conditional plans takes longer uses of the magic. If, say, you were expecting some kind of emergency and wanted advance warning of exactly when, I could cover all day when I was awake with look-aheads, but I'd need to eat a whole lot."

(That) (sounds) (useful) (if) (you) (are) (willing)

"...are you in fact expecting emergencies on such a frequent basis that you want me precogging the entire time I'm awake?"

(No)

"Okay, good, that was concerning for a second. Anyway yeah precogging is useful and I'm happy to earn my keep with it for the foreseeable future."

(Thank) (you) 

He confers briefly with Sizhui. 

(Lan) (Si) (zhui) (can) (show) (you) (to) (guest) (quarters)

"Thank you." She follows Lan Sizhui.

Lan Sizhui turns out to have his own, less elaborate version of the string instrument, albeit is a little clumsier with it than Lan Wangji. 

(Hello) 

"Hello. It's nice to meet you."

Jingyi, who has tagged along, says something, and Sizhui plays, (Jing) (yi) (wants) (to) (know) (where) (you) (are) (from)

"I live in a city called New York in what seems to be another universe. My world has a Yangtze River too, and it's so far away from New York City that it doesn't matter if you go east or west, it's nearly the same distance around the world either way. Plus the alternate universe part."

There is a flurry of talk between the two, then, (That) (is) (very) (exciting) (light) (bearing) (lord) (says) (you) (can) (see) (the) (future) (and) (that) (is) (also) (amazing)

"Yeah, it's really cool. I do it for my job at home."

(Is) (what) (you) (see) (fated) (?)

"...no, that would be totally useless! I mean, sometimes I see things I can't change, but that's because they're things I can't change, like earthquakes, not because if I somehow acquired the ability to prevent earthquakes I'd be somehow stopped from using it."

(Well) (if) (you) (couldn't) (stop) (the) (future) (you) (would) (still) (have) (more) (time) (to) (prepare) (for) (the) (aftermath)

"I guess but that's not how my power works."

(How) (does) (it) (work)

"I see what would happen if I weren't using precognition."

(How) (much) (of) (what) (would) (happen)

"About an hour. I can make it longer with practice, it used to be less."

More flurried discussion. 

(Jing) (yi) (would) (like) (to) (know) (how) (long) (it) (could) (get)

"Some people can do years, but we don't know of an actual upper bound. How fast it gets longer will depend on how much I concentrate on that instead of other things I could learn."

(What) (else) (could) (you) (learn)

"I already have an eidetic memory and some stuff that makes my mind work better and more organizedly. I can talk to my brother telepathically, but not from here - I'm going to be working on that to see if I can make it work."

(That) (sounds) (so) (useful), he plays, looking at her admiringly. 

"Yeah! I like being a psion. Your thing seems cool too. I could learn to do translation but it'd take a long time. Some psions can see the past or see far away or, uh, do things with machines you probably don't have here."

(Translation) (is) (a) (niche) (use) (Inquiry) (is) (usually) (used) (to) (speak) (to) (the) (dead)

"...we can't do that. Dead people aren't - there, to talk to, as far as we can tell. In my world."

(You) (don't) (have) (ghosts) (?)

"Nope! Does everybody here leave a ghost? Must be crowded."

(No) (most) (people) (pass) (on) (quickly)

"Pass on -?"

(Go) (on) (to) (reincarnation) (or) (what) (ever) (else) (comes) (after)

"Huh. If this is just a difference between people here and people where I'm from, as opposed to a fundamental limit of psionics, I might be able to learn to talk to dead people. Wild."

(Ghosts) (would) (definitely) (be) (noticeable) (without) (Inquiry)

"Makes sense. But like, I might be able to find out who somebody's reincarnated as, if they don't normally remember, say."

(That) (would) (be) (cool) 

He hesitates. 

(As) (long) (as) (you) (were) (careful)

"...careful of what?"

(There) (are) (some) (people) (who) (are) (dead) (who) (a) (lot) (of) (people) (would) (like) (to) (see) (suffer) (more) (for) (their) (crimes)

"I'll... bear that in mind. Thank you."

(You) (are) (welcome) 

(People) (have) (been) (searching) (for) (Yi) (ling) (Lao) (zu's) (spirit) (for) (ten) (years) 

(Others) (are) (also) (hated) (but) (that) (seems) (like) (the) (main) (concern) 

(Light) (bearing) (lord) (would) (never) (ask) (such) (a) (thing)

"Light bearing lord?"

(A) (courtesy) (title) (belonging) (to) (Lan) (Wang) (ji) 

"Aha. What exactly is the - deal here, who lives here, how many people?"

(This) (is) (the) (Cloud) (Recesses) (home) (to) (the) (Gu) (su) (Lan) (sect) (one) (of) (the) (four) (great) (Cultivation) (sects) (Light) (bearing) (lord's) (older) (brother) (Brilliance) (Overgrowth) (Lord) (is) (the) (sect) (leader) (it) (is) (home) (to) (the) (entire) (sect) (both) (Lan) (clan) (members) (and) (outer) (disciples) (a) (few) (hundred) (all) (together)

"Should I be expecting to stay here indefinitely or should I be considering other places to go since I do not belong to the Lan clan?"

(I) (do) (not) (know) (for) (certain) (however) (I) (think) (if) (you) (wished) (to) (stay) (any) (sect) (would) (be) (foolish) (to) (turn) (someone) (with) (the) (abilities) (you) (describe) (away)

"Good to know."

Small smile. (Light) (bearing) (lord) (and) (Brilliance) (Overgrowth) (Lord) (are) (not) (foolish)

"What do those titles mean, exactly?"

(They) (are) (given) (to) (respected) (cultivators) (usually) (sect) (leaders) (although) (not) (every) (sect) (leader) (has) (one)

"How does being a cultivator work?"

(Like) (how) (cultivating) (works) (or) (like) (how) (we) (live)

"The first but I'm also curious about the second."

(Life) (is) (different) (in) (different) (sects) (Gu) (su) (Lan) (is) (more) (regulated) (than) (most) (we) (all) (go) (night) (hunting) (though)

Slight pause. 

(A) (night) (hunt) (is) (when) (you) (hear) (that) (some) (thing) (supernatural) (has) (been) (making) (trouble) (and) (go) (to) (deal) (with) (it) 

Slightly longer pause. 

(Cultivating) (is) (the) (harnessing) (of) (spiritual) (energy) (into) (a) (golden) (core) (and) (then) (using) (it) (to) (perform) (tasks) 

(Normal) (cultivation) (that) (is) 

(Demonic) (cultivation) (is) (different) 

(It) (is) (dangerous) (and) (poorly) (regarded) 

(Gu) (su) (Lan) (does) (not) (teach) (it)

"What's a golden core?"

(A) (golden) (core) (is) (a) (regenerating) (pool) (of) (spiritual) (energy) (that) (forms) (when) (you) (gather) (enough) (spiritual) (energy) (in) (your) (body) (for) (a) (long) (enough) (time)

"And what's spiritual energy?"

(Spiritual) (energy) (is) (an) (ambient) (energy) (which) (gathers) (around) (living) (things) 

The two boys duck their heads and discuss something in low voices. 

(When) (you) (have) (a) (golden) (core) (you) (can) (sense) (it)

"Huh. Can anybody do that?"

(It) (helps) (to) (start) (young) (but) (Jin) (Guang) (yao) (did) (not) (and) (he) (manages)

"Wonder if I could pick it up now I'm here even though I'm from a universe without it."

Slightly excited conferring. 

(Do) (you) (want) (to) (try) (?)

"How long would it take to see if it works?"

(Cultivating) (a) (golden) (core) (takes) (years) (but) (if) (you) (can) (gather) (any) (at) (all) (then) (there) (is) (no) (reason) (you) (couldn't) 

"Okay, but how long would it take to tell if I could gather any at all?"

(We) (have) (never) (tried) (to) (teach) (some) (one) (and) (most) (start) (very) (small) (but) (probably) (not) (more) (than) (a) (few) (hours) (at) (worst) (?)

"Worth a try!"

(Do) (you) (know) (how) (to) (meditate)

"I've never tried it, and I think there are different kinds so I definitely don't know your kind."

So the two of them (i.e., Sizhui with occasional kibbitzing from Jingyi) explains how to center oneself and draw spiritual energy in. 

(You) (probably) (will) (not) (be) (able) (to) (tell) (if) (it) (is) (working) (but) (we) (can)

"Well, tell me right away if you see it working, and maybe if I can do it at the same time as precogging I'll know early."

She attempts to meditate.

Jingyi makes an excited exclamation after almost ten minutes. 

"What, already?"

(Just) (a) (little) Sizhui plays, shooting his friend an amused look. 

"Well, I guess I'm on the right track!" She will keep meditating for a bit, and see if she can get advance notice of any more excited noises so she can do whatever precedes them sooner; she can precog pretty quick if she's not pathing through a choose-your-own-adventure and just planning to meditate the whole time.

There are a couple of ways she can adjust how she's meditating that work better than others. Most of them work eventually but she can get variations on a scale of about five minutes to most of an hour. 

Cool! Then she can be meditating along at a really good clip from the start.

At one point after a precogged hour spent almost entirely meditating by a particularly effective method, Sizhui blinks in startlement and Jingyi is more visibly surprised. 

(What) (did) (you) (just) (do) Sizhui plays. 

"- uh, I'm trying lots of things in precog to see what gets you guys making excited noises since I can't sense it directly, but... I did not in fact foresee you making that noise, what happened?"

(Energy) (just) (jumped) (to) (you) (as) (though) (you) (had) (been) (meditating) (for) (about) (a) (half) (hour) (in) (the) (space) (of) (a) (second)

"- ha," she says, "what a beautiful cheat, I love it."

(Precogging) (meditation) (counts) (?) (That) (is) (wonderful)

"Yeah! I still need to work on contacting my brother but it's very cool that I can practice this and precognition at the same time."

(In) (order) (to) (stick) (the) (energy) (to) (you) (to) (form) (a) (core) (it) (is) (useful) (to) (do) (physical) (activity) (at) (the) (same) (time) 

"...huh. What kind?"

(More) (than) (one) (kind) (is) (best) 

(Having) (a) (golden) (core) (enhances) (physical) (abilities) 

(Parts) (of) (the) (body) (that) (have) (more) (energy) (channeled) (through) (them) (are) (improved) (more) 

(We) (do) (handstands) (while) (copying) (sect) (rules) (and) (have) (better) (upper) (body) (strength) (than) (other) (sects) 

He smiles innocently. 

(Jing) (yi) (has) (better) (upper) (body) (strength) (than) (me) 

Jingyi makes a face at him. 

"I'm very clumsy, so I won't be able to do much. I could do situps or something. ..how do you copy rules and do handstands at the same time?"

(You) (stand) (with) (your) (left) (hand)

"I need the cane to walk. I don't think I can do a handstand with both hands, let alone one."

(They) (don't) (make) (small) (children) (do) (it) 

He realizes what he just played, and flusters. 

(Not) (that) (you) (are) (a) (child) (I) (just) (meant) (since) (you) (don't) (have) (a) (golden) (core)

"I get it. What do children do?"

(Running) (laps) (basic) (martial) (arts) (sit) (ups) (push) (ups) (pull) (ups) (leg) (lifts) (squats)

"I can do situps. ...well, I can do crunches and work my way up."

The idea of being unable to do sit ups seems vaguely bewildering to him but he just nods. 

"Uh, when eclipsed first get our powers they're totally out of control, and the state of the art on getting us to the point of not doing things by accident involves spending a couple of years barely moving at all. Plus the clumsiness, which I had anyway. And the desk job. I'm not athletic."

(I) (don't) (really) (have) (a) (good) (idea) (of) (what) (people) (who) (are) (not) (cultivators) (can) (do) 

Small, thoughtful pause

(Except) (that) (farming) (looks) (like) (hard) (work)

"It's better with more technology! How many people are cultivators?"

He looks thoughtful. (Gu) (su) (Lan) (is) (larger) (than) (Yun) (meng) (Jiang) (and) (smaller) (than) (Lan) (ling) (Jin) (I) (do) (not) (know) (how) (big) (Qing) (he) (Nie) (is) (really) (but) (it) (can't) (be) (much) (smaller) (than) (Yun) (meng) (Jiang) (or) (much) (bigger) (than) (Lan) (ling) (Jin) (so) (maybe) (about) (a) (thousand) (between) (the) (Four) (Great) (Sects) (plus) (smaller) (sects) (and) (rogue) (cultivators)

"Rogue cultivators? Are people not supposed to take up meditation if they don't belong to a sect?"

(It) (is) (not) (forbidden) (and) (many) (begin) (as) (members) (of) (sects) (and) (leave) 

(That) (is) (only) (what) (they) (are) (called) 

(It) (is) (safer) (to) (night) (hunt) (if) (you) (have) (backup)

"Doesn't anyone pick it up for reasons other than wanting to go do vigilante superheroics?"

He looks slightly baffled

(Vigilante) (?)

"Sorry, uh, I'm bringing in concepts from fiction in my world because we don't have actual real live monsters and stuff running around. But like, aren't there reasons besides hunting the monsters to want to have superpowers? I predict the future for people who are, say, doing science experiments, or paid an insurance company to tell them if they're going to get in a car crash, or things like that."

He nods. (There) (are) (things) (cultivators) (do) (besides) (night) (hunt) (but) (most) (of) (them) (are) (more) (difficult) (to) (learn) (without) (teachers) (from) (a) (sect) (and) (if) (they) (are) (not) (immediately) (practical) (people) (will) (not) (pay) (for) (them) (anybody) (will) (pay) (to) (have) (the) (thing) (cursing) (their) (livestock) (or) (attacking) (their) (neighbors) (dealt) (with) (and) (if) (you) (do) (not) (have) (a) (sect) (to) (support) (you) (you) (have) (to) (be) (ruthlessly) (practical)

"Yeah, I guess that makes sense with a largely farming-oriented economic base. Way way way fewer people as a percentage of the population are farmers in my world."

Nod. (I) (did) (not) (understand) (most) (of) (your) (examples) (of) (what) (you) (do)

"Suppose that, like most people, you would prefer not to die. In my world, if you have this preference and also lots of money, you can pay a company called Glimpse to give you a vital sign monitoring device, which isn't magic but might as well be as far as I'd be able to explain it to you. If the device stops detecting a heartbeat, it sends a message to someone like me. I'm looking ahead, so I see the message before it arrives, and I can tell Glimpse who's going to die and when. They can warn the client, and the client can change their plans."

He looks impressed. (And) (there) (are) (so) (many) (people) (like) (you) (somebody) (can) (be) (doing) (that) (all) (the) (time)

"You don't need that many for someone to be on duty all the time, but it's very expensive, to limit the rate of messages we have to send back to something we can handle."

He shakes his head in amazement. (That) (sounds) (amazing) (anyway)

"Yeah. We also work on eclipses - to predict when someone's going to have a particularly bad out of control magic episode and get people on the scene to prevent it. Everyone who might eclipse is supposed to fast for a couple of days before the eclipse happens, so they don't have the energy to do any magic with, but there's always some people who can't or don't."

(What) (happens) (if) (people) (do) (not) (fast)

"They do magic at random. Sometimes harmless. Sometimes enough to kill a million people. - I not only won't but can't do that, to be clear. Eclipsed don't suddenly start doing random magic again after we stop. I can only do things I've learned how to do purposefully."

He looks shocked. (How) (does) (one) (kill) (a) (million) (people) (?)

"...it helps that we live in very dense cities. A big explosion or something in a dense city can do it."

(I) (can) (not) (imagine) (a) (city) (that) (dense)

"We can build buildings dozens of stories tall."

(A) (city) (of) (immense) (towers)

(And) (a) (child) (could) (fell) (all) (of) (it) (?)

"Well, we catch them first."

He shivers slightly. (Your) (world) (sounds) (very) (strange)

"It's really different!"

(I) (hope) (you) (are) (not) (trapped) (here) (forever)

"It would have some drawbacks. I'm going to focus on getting word to my brother. Maybe then a mage - they're the other kind of eclipsed - can figure out how to get here and back."

(What) (do) (mages) (do)

"Psions do things that do not have physical effects - so the stuff I've mentioned, illusions, some things with some machines that work similarly enough to people's brains, etcetera. Mages do things that do have physical effects, like teleporting. One might be able to teleport here, and bring me home. And then establish general interworld contact, I suppose."

(We) (can) (teleport)

"You can probably do lots of things mages can do, but I could tell that Lan Wangji was not a mage because translation isn't something mages can do. Also, neither kind of eclipsed makes objects persistently magical or needs to use an object to do magic except for the machines that work like brains, which is a special case."

(Machines) (that) (work) (like) (brains) (?) (Are) (they) (alive)

"No. They don't have experiences and they aren't organisms. But a complicated enough machine can store and manipulate information, and psions can interact with the storage and manipulation of information in that form as well as in the form of a person's mind."

The door opens, and a man who looks similar to Lan Wangji bows before stepping inside. 

Lan Wangji is behind him and steps in afterwards. 

(This) (is) (Lan) (Xi) (chen) (our) (sect) (leader) 

(He) (would) (like) (to) (speak) (with) (you)

"Hello, Lan Xichen, I'm Isabella Swan. If it matters, my surname is the second one."

Lan Xichen speaks, and Wangji translates. 

(I) (see) 

(Wang) (ji) (tells) (me) (you) (say) (you) (can) (see) (the) (future)

"Yes. If you have - I don't know if you have decks of cards around here but it can't be too hard to find a way to prove it."

(How) (far) (ahead) (do) (you) (see)

"About an hour, but it takes longer to extract information I have to do a series of conditional actions to get."

Jingyi starts to say something excitedly, then stops himself and continues in a slightly more subdued manner. Xichen raises an eyebrow and asks him something, to which he replies slightly evasively before Sizhui says something. Xichen nods. 

(I) (have) (a) (string) (of) (numbers) (in) (mind) (which) (I) (can) (tell) (you) (in) (the) (next) (few) (minutes)

"Seven eight two four four one nine one seven three."

(Yes)

(That) (is) (very) (impressive) 

(Wang) (ji) (tells) (me) (you) (have) (no) (idea) (how) (you) (came) (here)

"Yeah, sorry, I didn't see it happen. I was on my way to work and then I was a few minutes from where he found me."

(If) (you) (were) (merely) (a) (cultivator) (from) (very) (far) (away) (I) (might) (have) (guesses) (but) (I) (do) (not) 

(What) (do) (you) (plan) (going) (forward)

"I need to work on expanding the magic that lets me talk to my brother, so that I'll be able to do it from here. This may take months. In the meantime I'm happy to earn my keep predicting things."

(What) (does) (working) (on) (expanding) (the) (magic) (look) (like)

"It looks like me sitting around and thinking about it."

(Jingyi) (says) (cultivation) (is) (unknown) (to) (you) (and) (you) (had) (some) (notable) (success) (with) (meditation) (exercises)

"Yeah! I was precogging at the same time and it turns out that rather than messing up how meditative I am, it lets me remember meditating more than I actually meditate and that seems to also help!"

(With) (your) (unique) (ability) (any) (sect) (would) (accept) (you) (as) (a) (guest) (cultivator) 

(We) (would) (be) (very) (happy) (to) (have) (you) (but) (not) (everyone) (finds) (our) (ways) (palatable)

"What are your, uh, controversial ways?"

(We) (have) (almost) (four) (thousand) (rules) 

"I have an eidetic memory and that might be too many."

(Many) (of) (them) (are) (common) (sense) (courtesy) (but) (others) (are) (not) (and) (the) (sentiment) (is) (not) (uncommon) 

(Absent) (the) (eidetic) (memory) (part)

"I won't be able to fluently read the local language any time soon either, which could make learning them inconvenient too."

(We) (can) (work) (with) (that)

(Your) (situation) (is) (unusual) (and) (there) (is) (no) (reason) (why) (reasonable) (accommodations) (can) (not) (be) (made) 

(However) (if) (you) (prefer) (I) (can) (supply) (you) (with) (a) (letter) (of) (recommendation) (to) (go) (elsewhere)

(The) (sect) (leaders) (of) (Qing) (he) (Nie) (or) (Lan) (ling) (Jin) (would) (take) (someone) (I) (recommended) (in) (a) (heartbeat)

(I) (have) (less) (connection) (with) (Yun) (meng) (Jiang) (but) (their) (sect) (leader) (is) (not) (so) (foolish) (as) (to) (overlook) (your) (value)

(Wangji's eyes tighten slightly as Sect Leader Jiang is mentioned. She has little experience reading his expressions; she may not even notice it.) 

(She is highly unlikely to notice the sadness in the set of his lips. Wei Ying would have loved her reaction to the number of rules.) 

"Honestly I'm kind of curious what you have all those rules about! If I hate them I might wind up appreciating a letter of recommendation somewhere else but honestly it's possible that I'm so culturally bizarre that having concrete guidelines for lots of things normally left implicit would be helpful even if I eventually preferred to live somewhere less strict."

(I) (suspect) (you) (do) (not) (wish) (to) (listen) (to) (all) (of) (them) (now) (without) (having) (even) (decided) (to) (stay) (but) (a) (handful) (are) 

He lists the following rules: 

Alcohol is prohibited.
Talking behind other people's back is prohibited.
Running is prohibited.
Killing livestock within the area is prohibited.
Fighting without permission is prohibited.
Venturing out at night is prohibited.
Causing noise is prohibited.
Sneering for no reason is prohibited.
Sitting improperly is prohibited.
Eating more than three bowls is prohibited.
Arrogance is forbidden.
Do not be picky with food.
Do not work after 9 PM.
Do not rise after 5AM.
Do not stand incorrectly.
Do not smile foolishly.
Do not be of two minds.
Do not succumb to rage.

"...I don't know how to sit properly or stand correctly, and I'm not sure what constitutes talking behind other people's backs or noise, and if you want me to do any magic you are going to need to find some really big bowls or relax that rule for me. Also 5am is early but I guess I might keep hours that early if everyone else did and there's no electric lights?"

(Electric) (lights) (?)

"We have more advanced technology in my world including lights that run on tame lightning so it's not inconvenient to be up and about at night."

(Tame) (lightning) 

(That) (seems) (much) (more) (exciting) (than) (candles)

"It isn't exciting after you're used to it but it's convenient."

Lan Wangji's hands hesitate over the strings, but he plays before his brother speaks. 

(Rules) (exist) (for) (a) (reason) 

(When) (the) (reason) (is) (absent) (rules) (can) (be) (set) (aside) 

"What's behind the arrogance rule?"

(Being) (overconfident) (can) (get) (oneself) (or) (others) (killed)

"If nobody's dead, how do you determine if someone was arrogant?"

(Taking) (stupid) (risks) 

(Being) (obnoxious) (about) (talent) (or) (status)

"Fair enough. Is that a representative sample or are there going to be a hundred of them that are about nothing but, like, etiquette for addressing visiting subs from important families versus visiting doms from random farmer families...?"

(Subs) (?) (Doms) (?)

"...I don't know enough about how your translation magic works to patch a confusion here. Uh, normally I would sort the people around and see if you could get the categories from that but I am aware I can't just guess off all of you having long hair, even in modern China in my world that's not the same as it is where I'm from, and I'm not picking up whatever cues are used here instead. ...I'm a dom? If that helps?"

(It) (does) (not) (I) (am) (afraid)

"...I assume you people pair off - or more complicatedly form arrangements, potentially - and get married and have children in some way. In my world doms date subs and vice versa. Uh, I guess in the historical period corresponding to this year and tech level it was mostly conflated with gender but in the modern day it's not that strongly correlated, for example I am a female dom and that's a minority."

(I) (see) (We) (do) (marry) (and) (have) (children) (Typically) (men) (and) (women) (marry) (although) (some) (do) (prefer) (their) (own) (sex) (I) (do) (not) (believe) (children) (are) (possible) (in) (these) (cases) (however)

"I mean, yeah, that's true in my world too that you need a man and a woman to have children, but ideally people are also compatible beyond that in dynamic. And I think most people don't have much preference genderwise? At least where I'm from; maybe that's culturally malleable. Uh, loosely, with lots of individual variation, doms prefer to be in charge of things, give orders and make decisions and typically but not always be dishing out preferred forms of domestic violence, and subs are the other way around, preferring to be led and bossed around and if they are into the domestic violence they typically prefer to be on the receiving end. Like, the fact that I walk around with this cane is not literally about suggesting to onlookers that it is very attractive that I could hit them with my cane, but it isn't not about that, a sub would probably prefer a different assistive device."

It is highly unlikely that anyone not already familiar with Wangji's microexpressions would notice the pinking of his earlobes. 

(Oh) (I) (see) (insofar) (as) (we) (have) (that) (it) (is) (considered) (a) (private) (matter) (between) (partners)

"Huh. Sounds inconvenient but you do you, I guess."

Lan Xichen says something which Lan Wangji does not immediately translate, instead raising his head to look at his brother and say something in return. Jingyi bursts out laughing and Sizhui blushes and covers his face. 

(Xichen: "You can guess, sometimes. Sect Leader Jiang, for example, with his whip--" 

Wangji: "Brother, I am not translating anything of that sort about Jiang Wanyin.") 

After a short spell of staring, Wanji plucks, (Not) (everyone) (has) (such) (preferences) (at) (all) (but) (in) (some) (cases) (one) (can) (guess) (that) (if) (they) (were) (it) (would) (be) (one) (or) (the) (other)

"There are nondynamics at home who are neither but they're rare. And switches who're both, more common than that."

(It) (is) (not) (something) (which) (has) (been) (rigorously) (studied) (here)

"Yeah, that makes sense if it's considered private. Sorry for the awkward, uh, translation issue."

(Better) (to) (know) (in) (cases) (of) (mismatched) (expectation) 

"Yeah, could have been worse! - my original question before we went into this side issue was whether that was a representative subset of rules."

(It) (was) (somewhat) (weighted) (in) (the) (direction) (of) (rules) (newcomers) (typically) (run) (into)

"Doesn't seem too bad. Again, if you can find very large bowls."

(Something) (of) (the) (sort) (can) (be) (arranged)

"I'll stay here for the time being."

Nobody not familiar with Wangji would realize he was smiling. 

(I'm) (glad) 

"Thank you for your hospitality."

(You) (are) (welcome) 

(Dinner) (is) (in) (half) (an) (hour) (In) (light) (of) (the) (fact) (that) (we) (do) (not) (yet) (have) (larger) (dishware) (we) (can) (consider) (the) (rule) (waived) (for) (you) (for) (the) (moment) 

(Until) (you) (can) (communicate) (on) (your) (own) (you) (should) (be) (accompanied) (by) (someone) (who) (can) (play) (Inquiry) 

(We) (do) (not) (have) (much) (experience) (teaching) (language) (but) (hopefully) (eidetic) (memory) (should) (help)

"It should! Though not having a phonetic alphabet will slow me down."

(I) (apologize) (for) (the) (inconvenience) 

"I assume you did not invent the alphabet."

(Well) (no) 

(Snickering from Jingyi)

She giggles. "Is there anything in particular I should do with the next half hour?"

(We) (should) (get) (you) (clothes) (and) (things)

"I think if I dressed like you guys I'd trip, cane or no cane."

(Oh?)

"Yeah, all the swooshy robey stuff? I'm accustomed to pants like I've got. I can try swooshy robey stuff if that's all you've got but if you have pants around I'd prefer it."

(We) (wear) (pants) (under) (the) (robes)

"All right. Is it immodest to skip the swooshy layers?"

(I) (suspect) (we) (can) (work) (something) (out)

"All right. Clothes."

She will accept minimally swooshy local clothes.

She doesn't have to change right away or anything, but the clothes should be ready by the tomorrow morning. Probably she doesn't move around enough in her sleep that a standard sleeping robe will be a problem. 

Lan Xichen leaves, presumably to arrange this or for other Sect Leader purposes. Wangji remains, quizzing the children and Isabella on how her meditation attempts went and in what ways. 

She can report on this eidetically!

(The) (precognitive) (meditation) (interaction) (seems) (quite) (fortuitous) (assuming) (precognition) (is) (not) (too) (draining)

"It's costly in calories. So not a big deal if you want to feed me and the food's good."

(I) (will) (see) (to) (it) 

"Thanks!"

(If) (you) (are) (going) (to) (be) (a) (Gu) (su) (Lan) (disciple) (you) (should) (know) (about) (the) (forehead) (ribbon) 

Everyone she's seen so far, in addition to swooshy white robes, has worn a white ribbon tied over their forehead. 

"Sure, what's the deal with the forehead ribbons."

(The) (forehead) (ribbon) (is) (a) (tradition) (of) (the) (Lan) (sect) 

(Other) (sects) (do) (not) (have) (them) 

(The) (ribbon) (symbolizes) (self) (discipline) 

(Only) (one's) (parent) (child) (or) (serious) (romantic) (partner) (is) (permitted) (to) (touch) (it) 

"Okay, I won't touch anybody's forehead ribbon."

(You) (are) (here) (for) (convenience) 

(I) (do) (not) (expect) (you) (to) (take) (the) (tradition) (seriously) (on) (your) (own) (part) 

(If) (you) (are) (a) (Gu) (su) (Lan) (disciple) (without) (one) (people) (will) (ask) (questions) 

(They) (will) (ask) (questions) (anyway)

(Your) (hair) (and) (face) (are) (unusual) (and) (your) (abilities) (are) (unprecedented) 

(It) (is) (up) (to) (you) (to) (decide) 

"Well, most people won't be able to talk to me till I've had more time to, among other things, decide how to present myself."

(This) (is) (true)

(I) (do) (not) (mean) (to) (suggest) (that) (anything) (should) (be) (decided) (in) (haste)

"Do you have suggestions? About how to approach the questions."

(Xi) (chen) (would) (be) (better) (to) (ask) (he) (is) (better) (with) (people) (than) (I) (am)

"Okay.

Hey, how did you find me by the stream, I neglected to ask."

(Your) (arrival) (disturbed) (the) (wards)

"Ooh, wards, how do those work?"

(Usually) (it) (is) (not) (possible) (to) (pass) (through) (the) (wards) (without) (a) (token) (and) (if) (it) (happens) (anyway) (Brother) (will) (know)

"A token?"

(Jade) (tokens) (keyed) (to) (the) (wards) (are) (issued) (to) (Gu) (su) (Lan) (disciples)

"...not that I have a travel itinerary, but does this mean that till I get one I'm trapped in some general area here?"

(Anyone) (who) (has) (a) (token) (can) (bring) (you) (with) (them) (and) (it) (seems) (unwise) (to) (wander) (alone) (until) (you) (can) (communicate) (by) (yourself) 

(Anyone) (who) (can) (play) (Inquiry) (will) (have) (a) (token)

"Like I said, I don't have an itinerary, but it being unwise to leave is different in some ways from it being impossible to do so."

He nods, and reaches into his sleeve and produces a piece of white jade carved into the shape of a cloud. 

"Thank you." She pockets it.

(If) (you) (do) (leave) (please) (leave) (the) (token) (on) (the) (ground) (outside) (the) (ward)

"I'll remember that."

(Thank) (you)

Is it dinnertime yet.

Close enough, especially if they'll be walking more slowly because of Isabella's clumsiness issue. Sizhui hugs Wangji as they stand, before the latter leads Isabella to the dining hall. 

Good. She is a hungry eclipsed.

The food isn't great, kind of bland, kind of bitter, and everyone eats in silence. 

Oh dear.

She is hungry enough to eat a lot of plain rice and bits of whatever else is on hand but it's going to be a problem in the long run.

Wangji observes her consternation and quietly plots. 

Since the plotting is silent she will not notice it! She will go to her assigned room by a circuitous route to see more of the layout of the enclave and then sit and think about talking to her brother.

The next morning there is a rapping on her door shortly after five. 

She took a really long time to go to sleep the night before because when she originally landed she had only just had breakfast but she lurches out of bed anyway. "Hi. I'm still adjusting to the time zone."

He nods and holds out a pile of clothing. 

"Thanks." Yoink.

(Breakfast) (is) (in) (ten) (minutes) 

(If) (you) (require) (more) (time) (I) (will) (have) (something) (brought)

"I can probably get dressed in ten minutes but if I'm not there in fifteen I have probably fallen over trying to deal with alien pants."

He nods and closes the door. 

She manages to get into the alien pants and appear at breakfast on time.

There is a mildly absurdly large bowl waiting for her when she arrives, already filled. 

It tastes much better than anything last night. 

Oh good. It's not exactly two everything bagels with cream cheese and lox but she will put it away no problem.

This older-looking guy is definitely looking at her appraisingly. 

...she will look back at him! Presumably someone will tell her if this is against the rules.

Nobody says anything. 

She goes back to eating.

Eventually eating is done and people stand up to go about their day. 

Wangji gestures at the man who was looking at her with virtually invisible reluctance. (This) (is) (Lan) (Qi) (ren) (he) (is) (one) (of) (our) (best) (teachers) (he) (was) (curious) (about) (you)

"What does he want to know?"

He wants to make sure you aren't going to be another Wei Wuxian.

(He) (wants) (to) (get) (an) (idea) (of) (what) (you) (are) (like) (as) (a) (person)

"...by staring at me, or would he like to talk?"

(He) (would) (like) (to) (talk)

"Okay. I think I've had enough breakfast. It was pretty good!"

(I) (am) (told) (you) (come) (from) (very) (far) (away)

"Yes. I come from another world."

(And) (a) (place) (on) (the) (opposite) (side) (of) (that) (world) (from) (the) (Yang) (tze) (river)

"Yes. If it's not a coincidence. I can draw you a map of my planet if you like."

(That) (seems) (prudent)

So when provided with paper she draws the outlines of all the continents, quick and neat as though she's tracing, and she draws the Yangtze River and identifies it, and she marks New York City. "I live here," she says, and then she marks Forks, "but I was born here," Phoenix, "and I grew up here."

It takes some searching in the library to find a map that covers more than just the general China-and-its-immediate-environs area, but they do, and the geography matches. 

(I) (hope) (that) (whatever) (standards) (of) (behavior) (exist) (where) (you) (are) (from) (you) (will) (behave) (appropriately) (while) (you) (are) (here), Lan Qiren says and Lan Wangji (with undetectable reluctance) translates. Lan Xichen makes a more legible half-apologetic half-long-suffering face. 

"I didn't object substantially to the subset of sect rules I've learned apart from the one that will be unsustainable if you hope to have me doing any magic," she says after a beat. "I don't know whether that will continue to hold as I learn more of them, and I understand that might take some time, but if I encounter a rule I can't live with I'm willing to amicably take my leave and find somewhere else to stay. Of course I cannot guarantee I'll follow rules I don't know to exist, and can't guarantee I will understand them all as common sense coming as I do from so far away."

He nods, not quite happy but reasonably satisfied and not actively grudging. Xichen says something to him which Wangji doesn't bother translating and the two get up and bow and leave. 

She attempts a little bow herself but obviously has never bowed to anyone in her life.

(Thank) (you) (for) (being) (civil) (to) (Uncle)

"It seemed prudent. - you guys don't know precognition protocol, I should explain that to you, it's kind of hard even for people who grow up with it -"

(Please)

"If something happens you would have wanted to be warned about, tell me. Even when it has already happened, and especially if it's an ongoing emergency, priority one is tell me. You have to think of it that way and not as exclusively being about me being conveniently able to see the future, because your decisions are part of the future, and I can only foresee my own experiences - if I acquire extrasensory abilities those can fold in to my own experiences, but I can never tell you about something that isn't going to happen, to me, in my own precognition window, in the event that I do not use precognition, because what I see is 'what would happen if I didn't use precognition'. People who have Glimpse insurance on their kids who can't be trusted to keep their own pulse monitors on sometimes lose their kids because they - experience the kid dying and then spend the rest of the time window grieving and not telling their precog. And then we can't do anything. You have to have everybody who might know about something you want warning of very clear that even when it seems like it can't possibly help and I have already demonstrated I'm useless they have to tell me what happened because that's how I can be not-useless."

--Nod. 

(I) (can) (think) (of) (times) (when) (that) (would) (have) (been) (useful)

She nods. "I technically have to do this too, I have to be able to sufficiently make up my mind to try stuff even if the entire reason I'm checking in precognition is that I don't want to, but it's easier for me because I designed the power and how it feels for me, everybody else just has to have the reflex of 'tell the precog right away'."

(I) (will) (make) (sure) (it) (is) (known)

"Thanks. What's on the agenda for the morning besides this geography lesson?"

(Can) (you) (explain) (your) (balance) (problem)

"I've had it all my life. It's in an awkward gap where psionics can't fix it because it's too physical and magery can't either because it's too neurological, or I would have had it cured by now. I can't run without falling down. I can't dance either. I can walk, slowly, with my cane, and usually not trip if I'm paying attention."

(If) (you) (can) (meditate) (while) (walking) (and) (focus) (on) (your) (balance) (it) (might) (help) (sooner) (than) (otherwise)

"If you have someplace reasonably soft-floored I can try it."

(There) (are) (flat) (outdoor) (areas) (where) (the) (ground) (is) (soft)

"It'll do."

Time passes. She is tutored in the language, mostly by Sizhui and Jingyi while they aren't in classes, and in cultivation, mostly by Wangji. Other Lan disciples with sufficient mastery of Inquiry fill in when neither of these is available. Food continues to be available in adequate quantities and higher quality than that first night, although if she pays attention she may notice that she never has to fill her bowl herself from the communal serving dishes. A few times people come to her to report minor training accidents; nothing major, but better averted if possible. 

After almost a week, Lan Wangji asks her if she feels up to accompanying a night hunt as a precognitive warning system. 

She walks around in circles on soft ground for her meditation, looking ahead the entire time so she can report training accident related interruptions and cheat really hard at gathering spiritual energy. And sure, she'll come along as long as she can be well back from the action given that if someone fucks up and doesn't tell her what's going on she will not be able to run away yet.

That is fine. 

The night-hunt goes smoothly; the class of teenagers Lan Wangji is supervising take down a handful of walking corpses with no injuries and figure out what idiot was robbing graves and prompting corpses to get pissed off and rise from them. 

"Why don't you just... cremate people... if you have a recurring zombie issue."

Walking corpses are easier to deal with than angry ghosts. 

"I guess that answers that. Why do the ghosts get angry about cremations?"

The thing isn't so much that ghosts get angry about cremations, it's that dead people get angry about not having a proper burial, or about having their graves disturbed, and once they do get angry you really want them to be stuck to a shambling rotten meatsack that can only do physical violence and not like curses. 

"...why do they gain the ability to perform curses if freed of their corporeal forms. That's so weird!"

(Beings) (which) (have) (bodies) (are) (to) (some) (extent) (constrained) (by) (physical) (limitations) (as) (well) (as) (benefits) 

(An) (angry) (ghost) (is) (essentially) (pure) (resentful) (energy) (and) (can) (therefore) (manipulate) (resentful) (energy) (naturally)

"I don't suppose this could all be solved with a cultural shift towards it being expected that dead people will not care at all about their interment conditions and instead care about normal things like, uh, having company and hobbies and stuff, a normal person amount and not a curses amount."

(Resentful) (energy) (does) (not) (work) (that) (way) 

(Usually) 

(There) (has) (only) (been) (one) (case) (of) (a) (dead) (person) (restored) (to) (full) (consciousness) 

(The) (Ghost) (General)

"And the Ghost General is, like, okay, just biologically dead?"

(He) (was) 

"...then what?"

(He) (died) (again) 

(Not) (because) (of) (how) (he) (was) (put) (together) 

(The) (Jin) (clan) (executed) (him) 

"Why?"

(Have) (you) (heard) (anything) (about) (Yi) (ling) (Lao) (zu) 

"Yes, apparently people have been hunting for his spirit for ten years."

(Yi) (ling) (Lao) (zu) (Wei) (Wu) (xian) (invented) (demonic) (cultivation) (a) (new) (kind) (of) (cultivation) (that) (harnesses) (resentful) (energy) (instead) (of) (subduing) (it) 

(He) (used) (it) (to) (help) (win) (the) (war) (against) (the) (tyrannical) (Qi) (shan) (Wen) (sect) 

(Previously) (there) (were) (five) (great) (sects) (instead) (of) (four) (with) (Qi) (san) (Wen) (at) (the) (head) 

(But) (they) (became) (cruel) (and) (dangerous) (and) (the) (other) (four) (were) (forced) (to) (take) (up) (arms) 

(Wei) (Wu) (xian) (was) (considered) (a) (war) (hero) 

(After) (the) (war) (the) (survivors) (of) (the) (Wen) (clan) (were) (put) (in) (labor) (camps) (by) (the) (Jin) (sect)

(Wen) (Ning) (was) (a) (Wen) (who) (had) (helped) (Wei) (Wu) (xian) (during) (the) (war) 

(Wei) (Wu) (xian) (found) (out) (that) (he) (was) (being) (mistreated) (in) (the) (camp) 

(He) (went) (to) (the) (camp) (and) (found) (all) (the) (prisoners) (being) (treated) (badly) (and) (Wen) (Ning) (dead) 

(He) (killed) (the) (overseer) (and) (brought) (all) (the) (survivors) (and) (the) (fierce) (corpse) (of) (Wen) (Ning) (to) (Yi) (ling) 

(The) (Jin) (sect) (was) (very) (angry) 

(Wei) (Wu) (xian) (found) (a) (way) (to) (restore) (Wen) (Ning's) (consciousness) 

(Wei) (Wu) (xian) (and) (Wen) (Ning) (were) (on) (their) (way) (to) (attend) (Wei) (Wu) (xian's) (nephew's) (one) (month) (ceremony) (when) (Jin) (Zi) (xun) (ambushed) (them) 

(Jin) (Zi) (xuan) (attempted) (to) (intervene) (and) (became) (a) (casualty) (at) (Wen) (Ning's) (hand) 

(Jin) (Zi) (xuan) (was) (the) (heir) 

(The) (Jin) (sect) (was) (out) (for) (blood) 

(Wen) (Ning) (surrendered) (himself) (to) (the) (Jins) (to) (be) (executed) (in) (order) (to) (protect) (Wei) (Wu) (xian) (and) (the) (other) (Wen) (survivors) 

(It) (did) (not) (work)

(The) (Jins) (gathered) (the) (sects) (in) (Nightless) (City) (where) (the) (Wen) (sect) (once) (ruled) (to) (collectively) (declare) (war) (on) (Wei) (Wu) (xian) 

(Wei) (Wu) (xian) (showed) (up) (to) (speak) (to) (them) 

(Somebody) (attempted) (to) (kill) (him) 

(His) (sister) (got) (between) (them) 

(She) (died) 

(He) (lost) (control) 

(Many) (of) (those) (gathered) (died) 

(A) (month) (later) (the) (entire) (cultivation) (world) (besieged) (Yi) (ling) 

(Everyone) (within) (was) (killed) 

"Wow okay."

(There) (have) (been) (many) (attempts) (over) (the) (years) (to) (summon) (and) (bind) (Wei) (Wu) (xian's) (spirit) 

(None) (have) (succeeded) 

(Most) (believe) (he) (has) (passed) (on) 

"I'm sure there are more sides to this story but it does seem peculiar if the way you're describing it is accurate that he'd be the only one people'd be after."

(I) (do) (not) (know) (what) (happened) (to) (Wen) (Ning's) (spirit) 

(Nobody) (else) (was) (feared) (the) (way) (Wei) (Wu) (xian) (was) (at) (the) (end)

(He) (created) (an) (entirely) (new) (way) (of) (cultivation) (and) (against) (the) (Wens) (he) (raised) (obedient) (armies) (of) (corpses) 

(Nobody) (could) (control) (him) 

(Even) (when) (he) (was) (on) (the) (same) (side) (as) (everyone) (else) (he) (did) (what) (he) (believed) (was) (right) (with) (no) (concessions) (to) (political) (concerns)

(People) (began) (to) (turn) (against) (him) (after) (the) (war) (before) (he) (actually) (did) (anything)