Cultivating Empathy
is a crossover fanfic between Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation: Mo Dao Zu Shi and Heralds of Valdemar, written by Rahar_Moonfire on Archive of Our Own.
Following the burning of Cloud Recesses by the Wen army, Lan Xichen fled on his sword. He meant to follow the shoreline to Qinghe and spread the word of the Wen Clan's assault. But in his spiritual and mental exhaustion, he overshot his goal and fell instead into a forest when a snow white creature with eyes the clearest blue found him. Chose him.
Contains the following tropes
- Ambiguous Gender: Songwind k'Sheyna is unable to peg the person who crash-landed in the Pelagirs as male or female, courtesy of the distance, long hair and robes. Elspeth later does the same mistake.
- Ban on Magic: Following the Mage Storms, trying to practise sorcery was so hazardous to the health and the surroundings that the Jianghu completely forbid the venture. Xue Chonghai going Axe-Crazy in his quest to cure his sudden de-powering likely didn't help on this front.
- Big Brother Instinct:
- One of Lan Xichen's main preoccupations after waking up in Valdemar is learning what happened to his younger brother Wangji and rescue him if needed.
- Nie Mingjue's answer to Wen Xu commanding him to give Huaisang up for indoctrination is to throw his saber to the asshole. With the intent to kill.
- Blessed with Suck: Being The Empath is not a good thing when Xichen can feel his clansmates dying and maimed all around him, while the Wen cultivators are actively enjoying the suffering they are inflicting.
- Braids of Action: A staple of the Qinghe Nie Sect. Nie Mingjue braiding Lan Xichen's hair was the equivalent of offering a wedding ring.
- Culture Clash:
- Lan Xichen is utterly baffled by Valdemaran fashion — they crop their hair too short and are not wearing enough layers to be considered truly respectable according his sensibilities.
- Cultivators deal with spirits like they're something to respect and be wary of; Valdemar has no problems using spirits as tools for instances such as the Spell of Truth.
- Sect politics are extremely cut-throat, so manipulation of any kind isn't merely allowed, it's condoned. Lan Xichen is taken aback when Queen Selenay calls him out on using his Empathy to forcefully calm Lord Orthallen.
- Cultivators learn to repress and control their emotions as they grow up, constrasting with the Valdemarans gleefully wearing their heart on their sleeve.
- Valdemar enjoys greater informality than the Jianghu. It makes Lan Xichen quite uneasy when people he barely knows casually use his given name.
- Easily Forgiven: Lord Orthallen hurls verbal abuse at Lan Xichen for announcing his nephew Kris died on a mission. Considering the circumstances, Xichen is very understanding.
- The Empath: Lan Xichen is a very practised one, and Gala muses she needs to introduce him to Talia.
- Head-Turning Beauty: Elspeth is stunned by Xichen's prettiness, and he later feels attraction directed towards him.
- Heroic RRoD: After channeling enough energy into Dirk for him to Fetch Talia out of captivity, Lan Xichen is so exhausted and stressed he falls into a qi deviation.
- Innocently Insensitive: As they undress Xichen in order to treat his injuries, the Healers almost take his forehead ribbon off. Xichen immediately tries to fight them off since only a Lan's spouse is allowed to touch the headband, and Gala has to read his memories to defuse the situation.
- Jurisdiction Friction: See, a Herald is supposed to devote themselves to Valdemar and its people, but Lan Xichen basically is a minor prince who really needs to help his people fight a war and rebuild afterwards.
- Like Brother and Sister: Xichen considers Gala the sister he never knew he wanted or needed.
- Loved I Not Honour More: By virtue of their positions as Sect Leader and Sect Leader Heir, Nie Mingjue and Lan Xichen can't openly become cultivation partners. They nonetheless are deeply in love with each other.
- Metaphorical Marriage: Nie Mingjue and Lan Xichen won't get married for political reasons, but they still took a night off for Lan Xichen to give his forehead ribbon to Nie Mingjue and for Nie Mingjue to braid Lan Xichen's hair.
- Oh, Crap!: Elspeth and Dirk's reaction when they understand that the newest Herald is not a minor noble but a Crown Prince in his own right.
- Omniglot: Lan Xichen awoke the Gift of Tongues after being Chosen. Gala is very smug about her Herald having such a rare Gift.
- Opposites Attract: Lan Xichen (who needs to be The Stoic because of how he was raised) fell for the outwardly fiery and emotional Nie Mingjue.
- Our Nudity Is Different: Lan Xichen feels rather underdressed when he's only wearing a single layer of clothes and goes ballistic when Healers try to remove his forehead ribbon.
- Personality Powers: The sweet and diplomatic Lan Xichen is able to read, speak and relate to anyone through his empathic and Omniglot Gifts.
- Sadist: Wen Xu, full stop. The guy actively relishes burning Cloud Recesses to ashes in front of the powerless Twin Jades and later gloats to Nie Mingjue that Lan Xichen was burned alive.
- Sadistic Choice: As Herald Talia is abducted, Lan Xichen finds himself hesitating between prolonging his sojourn into Valdemar to help for her rescue (as Herald Kris' spirit begged him to) or coming back home to help his clan and brother against the Wen army.
- Translator Microbes: The Gift of Tongues grants fluency in any language possible. Still, it has limitations — it can flub the final result by lack of understanding or local equivalent, resulting in approximation such as calling a Crown Prince a Sect Heir.
