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Yiling Patriarch recs
Relenafanel was asking for Yiling Patriarch recs, and it turns out a have quite a few!
Looking through my bookmarks for "Yiling Patriarch," I seem to have a lot of "Lan Zhan is forced to marry the Yiling Patriarch to win the war" stories. Of those, my absolute favorite is Cicer's "Love, in fire and in blood" (which does feature, at least at the beginning, a dangerous and mysterious Yiling Patriarch). This is a super-long, super slow burn story where Lan Zhan starts off really fearing the Yiling Patriarch but is absolutely determined to be a good spouse; as he learns more about his mysterious husband, he begins to realize the complicated plots against him.
Cicer has several different takes on this trope; Hold Me Fast, Fear me not is a kind of Tamlin fusion where Lan Zhan has an encounter with the dangerous Yiling Patriarch whose lands are taking over the cultivation world; he sleeps with him to gain some rare healing herbs and has to deal with the consequences.
She also has a more humorous take on this trope; in "Spider Lilies to Sunflowers" when the Yiling Patriarch tries to scare Lan Zhan (who wants YP to defeat the Wen for his clan) by demanding his first-born child in return, Lan Zhan basically bullies the hapless "demon" into marriage.
Some other "marrying the scary Yiling Patriarch" stories :
Makkurokuro93, Demon's Paramour has Lan Zhan offer himself to the demon Yiling Patriarch to save his brother's life. Lan Xichen is dying of grief after his husband Jiang Wanyin has died, and only the Yiling Patriarch can help. Probably the most ambiguous Yiling Patriarch of this rec list (Wei Ying is an actual demon), and has a bittersweet ending.
Sunandships' To Porcelain, to ivory, to steel is a sort of game-of-thrones-ish story where the Yiling Patriarch is offered the beautiful Lan Zhan by Jin Guangshan in return for his support in the battle against Wen Ruohan, not realizing that the Jin have basically stolen the throne from the Lan.
Alliandra, Caught between sun and shadows, Lan Zhan marries the mysterious masked Yiling Laozu in return for his help for the war. His brother is distraught but he's falling for him slowly. Bonus resentacles when the sex finally happens.
Iliacquer, Tie a Knife with a ribbon. Though Zewujun is reluctant to agree, Lan Zhan sells himself to the Yiling Patriarch to win the war.
Iliacquer, The Shadow of a name in skin Wei Ying sacrifices his knowledge of his own humanity--becoming only the Yiling Patriarch--to save the Wens, but Lan Zhan tries to bring him back.
Protos_metazu_ison, Old Foreshadows . The Yiling Patriarch, an infamous demonic cultivator who died centuries ago, is summoned by a secret ritual when the sects are on the verge of losing the war to the Wen. Interesting spin on the Mo Xuanyu sacrifice summons, and also interesting backstory (in a previous lifetime) of Lan Zhan and Wei Ying.
nikefemme, To soar with the wind and waves . Still a WIP, but a fascinating, Imperial-ish AU where Lan Zhan (who cannot speak) has lived most of his life as a hostage in Lanling, and is given to the Yiling Patriarch as a bride. Lots of complicated court politics and very slow burn.
Dr. Panda99, Your heart of shadows, your eyes like stars , in which Lan Zhan is an omega on the run for his life, and he makes a deal with the mysterious immortal Yiling Patriarch to save his family, only he also finds himself attracted to the friendly alpha Wei Ying.
Sassyblue, Pitiful Destiny, Point your finger at me Lan Zhan was an imperial prince on the run; marrying the YP was his best shot at freedom. Features identity porn.
Porcupine Girl's #WarPrizeJi Season Lan Zhan thinks Wei Ying died in the war, so when the sects decide to send offerings to the mysterious Yiling Patriarch, he offers himself as tribute. (Started as a threadfic; this one has a lot of humor).
Fairy tale AUs:
Fayhe, Rare the Man who will hold to faith is a Gawain and the Green Knight AU where Lan Zhan perhaps foolishly challenges the Yiling Patriarch for his insolence, and is allowed one strike at him if he will allow the same in a year and a day. An honorable man, he travels to fulfill his bargain but finds himself falling in love with the Patriarch's spouse, Wei Ying. This is completely lovely and one of my favorite stories.
Westiec's Married to the Demon Not technically a Yiling Patriarch story--in this one a female Wei Ying is the Demon of Qishan, drafted by Wen Ruohan, who takes female Lan Zhan as her war prize, of course with the hidden agenda of overthrowing Wen Ruohan.
Threeings' What Resembles the Grave is a Beauty and the Beast AU, featuring the Yiling Patriarch as the Beast and Lan Zhan as Beauty. Wei Ying is cursed, and the cultivation world thinks he's a demon. Features a sentient Demon Slumbering Cave.
Overmountainmeadow's When the Deep Purple Heaven turns blue is a sort of Cinderella pastiche, where the Yiling Patriarch seems to be working for Wen Ruohan and Lan Zhan is playing the role of Cinderella.
AUs where the focus is on the Yiling Patriarch as a great leader/sect builder :
Esama's Grave Dirt is one of my favorites for the Yiling Patriarch competence porn. It focuses a lot on how Wei Ying copes with suddenly finding himself a sect leader and the inventions he creates to make that possible.
MarbleGlove's Everyone has a braincell of their own series, which starts out with Wen Qing and Wei Ying strategizing on how to get surgery to heal Wen Ning and Wei Ying, and leads to a lot of interesting changes.
Looking through my bookmarks for "Yiling Patriarch," I seem to have a lot of "Lan Zhan is forced to marry the Yiling Patriarch to win the war" stories. Of those, my absolute favorite is Cicer's "Love, in fire and in blood" (which does feature, at least at the beginning, a dangerous and mysterious Yiling Patriarch). This is a super-long, super slow burn story where Lan Zhan starts off really fearing the Yiling Patriarch but is absolutely determined to be a good spouse; as he learns more about his mysterious husband, he begins to realize the complicated plots against him.
Cicer has several different takes on this trope; Hold Me Fast, Fear me not is a kind of Tamlin fusion where Lan Zhan has an encounter with the dangerous Yiling Patriarch whose lands are taking over the cultivation world; he sleeps with him to gain some rare healing herbs and has to deal with the consequences.
She also has a more humorous take on this trope; in "Spider Lilies to Sunflowers" when the Yiling Patriarch tries to scare Lan Zhan (who wants YP to defeat the Wen for his clan) by demanding his first-born child in return, Lan Zhan basically bullies the hapless "demon" into marriage.
Some other "marrying the scary Yiling Patriarch" stories :
Makkurokuro93, Demon's Paramour has Lan Zhan offer himself to the demon Yiling Patriarch to save his brother's life. Lan Xichen is dying of grief after his husband Jiang Wanyin has died, and only the Yiling Patriarch can help. Probably the most ambiguous Yiling Patriarch of this rec list (Wei Ying is an actual demon), and has a bittersweet ending.
Sunandships' To Porcelain, to ivory, to steel is a sort of game-of-thrones-ish story where the Yiling Patriarch is offered the beautiful Lan Zhan by Jin Guangshan in return for his support in the battle against Wen Ruohan, not realizing that the Jin have basically stolen the throne from the Lan.
Alliandra, Caught between sun and shadows, Lan Zhan marries the mysterious masked Yiling Laozu in return for his help for the war. His brother is distraught but he's falling for him slowly. Bonus resentacles when the sex finally happens.
Iliacquer, Tie a Knife with a ribbon. Though Zewujun is reluctant to agree, Lan Zhan sells himself to the Yiling Patriarch to win the war.
Iliacquer, The Shadow of a name in skin Wei Ying sacrifices his knowledge of his own humanity--becoming only the Yiling Patriarch--to save the Wens, but Lan Zhan tries to bring him back.
Protos_metazu_ison, Old Foreshadows . The Yiling Patriarch, an infamous demonic cultivator who died centuries ago, is summoned by a secret ritual when the sects are on the verge of losing the war to the Wen. Interesting spin on the Mo Xuanyu sacrifice summons, and also interesting backstory (in a previous lifetime) of Lan Zhan and Wei Ying.
nikefemme, To soar with the wind and waves . Still a WIP, but a fascinating, Imperial-ish AU where Lan Zhan (who cannot speak) has lived most of his life as a hostage in Lanling, and is given to the Yiling Patriarch as a bride. Lots of complicated court politics and very slow burn.
Dr. Panda99, Your heart of shadows, your eyes like stars , in which Lan Zhan is an omega on the run for his life, and he makes a deal with the mysterious immortal Yiling Patriarch to save his family, only he also finds himself attracted to the friendly alpha Wei Ying.
Sassyblue, Pitiful Destiny, Point your finger at me Lan Zhan was an imperial prince on the run; marrying the YP was his best shot at freedom. Features identity porn.
Porcupine Girl's #WarPrizeJi Season Lan Zhan thinks Wei Ying died in the war, so when the sects decide to send offerings to the mysterious Yiling Patriarch, he offers himself as tribute. (Started as a threadfic; this one has a lot of humor).
Fairy tale AUs:
Fayhe, Rare the Man who will hold to faith is a Gawain and the Green Knight AU where Lan Zhan perhaps foolishly challenges the Yiling Patriarch for his insolence, and is allowed one strike at him if he will allow the same in a year and a day. An honorable man, he travels to fulfill his bargain but finds himself falling in love with the Patriarch's spouse, Wei Ying. This is completely lovely and one of my favorite stories.
Westiec's Married to the Demon Not technically a Yiling Patriarch story--in this one a female Wei Ying is the Demon of Qishan, drafted by Wen Ruohan, who takes female Lan Zhan as her war prize, of course with the hidden agenda of overthrowing Wen Ruohan.
Threeings' What Resembles the Grave is a Beauty and the Beast AU, featuring the Yiling Patriarch as the Beast and Lan Zhan as Beauty. Wei Ying is cursed, and the cultivation world thinks he's a demon. Features a sentient Demon Slumbering Cave.
Overmountainmeadow's When the Deep Purple Heaven turns blue is a sort of Cinderella pastiche, where the Yiling Patriarch seems to be working for Wen Ruohan and Lan Zhan is playing the role of Cinderella.
AUs where the focus is on the Yiling Patriarch as a great leader/sect builder :
Esama's Grave Dirt is one of my favorites for the Yiling Patriarch competence porn. It focuses a lot on how Wei Ying copes with suddenly finding himself a sect leader and the inventions he creates to make that possible.
MarbleGlove's Everyone has a braincell of their own series, which starts out with Wen Qing and Wei Ying strategizing on how to get surgery to heal Wen Ning and Wei Ying, and leads to a lot of interesting changes.