Chapter Text
Wei Wuxian is known for many dark and powerful magics. Both peasants and cultivators alike speak fearfully of his demonic abilities, which can stir armies of fierce corpses, invoke ghostly servants, and even call the dead back to life. Yet, none more so than his ability to cast terrible curses on his enemies.
The rumours began small and harmless. Parents would scare their children, warning them, ‘if you're out of bed after xu shi , the Yilling Patriarch will curse your feet into stone!’. But the rumours evolved into ever more fantastical tales. They said the Yilling Patriarch had cursed the Burial Mounds so that any soul who wandered within its bounds would gradually have their minds broken; that the second lady of the Mo family was cursed with a lunatic son for offending the Patriarch, and gave Mo Xuanyu up to appease him; that he cursed several Wen soldiers to scream for six days and nights until they died with bleeding throats.
The stories of his prowess are boundless, both fearing and praising his skill with curses.
However, the truth is a lot less exciting.
Wei Wuxian doesn't curse children who don't go to bed on time. He’s too busy working on this or that theory or another grand invention, and then sleeping off his all-nighters. When he’s not fixating on a project, usually he’s the one encouraging children to engage in mischief at night.
Wei Wuxian didn't place a curse driving people who enter the Burial Mounds to go insane. Rather, he had set up a barrier combined with a maze array that would eventually lead people back out of the Burial Mounds. Unfortunately, the first iteration was a little too good at its job. It kept people trapped in a looping void for several shichen , instead of just an incense stick of time. He eventually fixed it after Lan Zhan had to play Calming for all the people who exited a sobbing mess, but the rumours had already spread.
The demonic cultivator did not curse Second Lady Mo so her son would be born with lunacy. Madam Mo spread those rumours to destroy Second Lady Mo and Mo Xuanyu's credibility. He certainly didn't force the lady to give him her son. Merely offered to take in Mo Xuanyu as a disciple and teach him (spiritual) cultivation. Between being taken in as another bastard of the Jin sect, or being taught by immortal cultivators (even if one was known for the demonic arts), Second Lady Mo knew which sounded better for her son. And so, Mo village witnessed the Yilling Patriarch spiriting away young Mo Xuanyu.
And the story about the Wen soldiers? Well, Wei Wuxian would refute that to his dying days. He did not make them scream for six days and nights! He only made them scream for an incense stick of time! (...maybe two). And they didn't do it because of a curse he placed! Those Wen soldiers dared to make Lan Zhan sad when they attacked a group of Lan disciples, so he killed them, slowly. And by that, he means he ordered his fierce corpses to devour them alive.
Despite all the rumours and stories, Wei Wuxian has never cursed a single person.
Because Wei Wuxian doesn't actually know how to curse people.
It's almost laughable, he knows. Even if Wei Wuxian himself were to shout it out, nobody would believe it. His mastery of the demonic arts is infamous! How could he not be able to cast curses?
True, his knowledge of curses is unmatched by everyone, except perhaps a handful of studious Lan cultivators. Wei Wuxian could tell you the origin, effects, and counters (and create one if there isn't) to almost any curse in existence. He just can't cast them.
Wei Wuxian, the genius that he is, could probably learn how to if he wanted. He's just never had a reason to. Despite his demonic cultivation, and general propensity for giving out gruesome deaths, casting curses was one thing he could never bring himself to do. Part of the reason was that it felt too impersonal and, as a result, almost sadistic in nature. Another reason was that he worried about how Lan Zhan would react if he expressed a desire to learn how to cast curses. He didn't know if Lan Zhan would be disappointed and sad for him, or if Lan Zhan would amiably support his interest, saying, ‘whatever Wei Ying wants, I will fulfill’. (Frankly, both outcomes terrified him in equal amounts).
However, the primary reason was simple: He never had a need for them. Curses are finicky, and often impractical. They are tempermental, have their own annoying side-effects, and can always be countered in some way. No, if Wei Wuxian wanted someone to suffer or die (or both), it was always easier to simply do it himself, no fancy curse needed.
And that worked out for years.
Until a woman knelt at the foot of the Burial Mounds and begged him to curse her husband for his infidelity.
Well, Wei Wuxian was a genius, he would just have to get creative.