Cover by little-smartass
Where There's A Will, There's a Road is a fanfic based on The Untamed. Written by little-smartass (also the illustrator for Best of My Love), it details a Night Hunt undertaken by the Venerated Triad just before Jin Ling's 100 day celebration is due to begin. What all three expect to be a short jaunt quickly goes awry, leaving Nie Mingjue and Jin Guangyao forced to rely on each other or risk both their deaths.
It can be read here
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This Fanfic Provides the Following Tropes:
- Actor Allusion: A very brief one during the fight with the Spider Spirit. Jin Guangyao is mentioned as moving quickly and lightly on his feet "like a dancer". Zhu Zanjin, who played Jin Guangyao in the drama, is a trained dancer.
- Actually Pretty Funny: Jin Guangyao is surprised that Nie Mingjue's joke at his father's expense is this.
- After-Action Patch-Up: After the fight with the Spider Spirit, Nie Mingjue helps set Jin Guangyao's dislocated shoulder and the two have a long talk.
- Big Damn Reunion: After being split apart from them for most of the fic, Xichen embraces the other two in one of these.
- Clothing Damage: Jin Guangyao's hat is damaged early on in the attack. Once he removes it, Nie Mingjue gets to see that he still wears Nie braids, shocking him.
- Cluster F-Bomb: Jin Guangyao looses one of these when Nie Mingjue sets his dislocated shoulder. It startles Mingjue, who'd never heard his sworn brother curse before. Guangyao points up that since he grew up in a brothel, he probably knows more swear words than Mingjue anyway.
- Combat Pragmatist: Jin Guangyao is this, fleeing when he's not strong enough to face something head-on. Nie Mingjue actually appreciates this.
- Domestic Abuse: Jin Guangyao is subject to this by the Jin Sect. Madam Jin threw a teapot full of hot tea at him at some point not long before the fic begins, giving him a nasty burn on his chest.
- Dreaming of Things to Come: Both Nie Mingjue and Jin Guangyao. The former sees multiple visions of his impending qi-deviation, while Jin Guangyao envisions both Qin Su and his father's eventual dismissal of his mother.
- Eldritch Abomination: Nie Mingjue and Jin Guangyao face two: the Spider Spirit and the Boar Spirit. Both are powered by resentful energy and have unnatural forms. Horrifyingly, they're also aspects of Jin Guangyao and Nie Mingjue's spirits from after canon.
- The Venerated Triad face a two-headed, three-armed monster near the end of the fic that is the remains of both Mingjue and Guangyao's spirits after being in the coffin at Guanyin Temple.
- Establishing Character Moment: Within the fic, Nie Mingjue gets one when he holds his sworn brothers up so that a doe can pass by in front of them in the forest. It sets up a gentler, more thoughtful interpretation of the character than often appears in fan works.
- Evil Laugh: The Spider Spirit has one of these. It's a hint that it's probably a bit more human than it seems.
- Expository Hairstyle Change: Very small one, but in the epilogue, Jin Guangyao wears his hair in the traditional Jin style, suggesting a greater degree of acceptance by his family.
- Eyes Do Not Belong There: Like some bosses from The Legend of Zelda, the Spider Spirit's eye turns out to be in its mouth.
- Face Death with Dignity: What Nie Mingjue intends to do with his impending fatal qi-deviation, accepting it as a part of life and his own inevitable end. Jin Guangyao finds he's not okay with this prospect.
- Fix Fic: The events of the fic result in Jin Zixuan surviving Qiongqi Pass and Su She removing the Hundred Holes Curse from Jin Zixun.
- Foreshadowing The resentful energy disturbance that the Venerated Triad initially go out to deal with is said to be coming from a temple. Jin Guangyao is disturbed, as he grew up in the area and doesn't remember a temple being there. It's because it's coming from some version of the Guanyin Temple he will one day build.
- Four Is Death: Referenced with Nie Mingjue and Jin Guangyao find four branching paths and consider the find unlucky.
- Fragile Speedster: Jin Guangyao, who is very fast on his feet but is a lot physically weaker than Nie Mingjue.
- I Gave My Word: Nie Mingjue sees the oath of brotherhood as this. He makes it clear that he considers himself bound by it despite his misgivings about and mistrust of Jin Guangyao.Nie Mingjue: When I became your sworn brother I swore an oath that I would guide you on the righteous path and do what I can to protect you...I take my oaths seriously, Meng Yao.
- Genius Bruiser: Nie Mingjue's characterization in the fic. He's both physically hardy and a good strategist, fighting both the Spider Spirit (which requires some tactical skills) and the Boar Spirit (which mostly requires brute strength) equally well.
- Go for the Eye: What Nie Mingjue and Jin Guangyao do when fighting the Spider Spirit, as the eye is its weak point.
- Group Hug: The Venerated Triad have one of these after escaping the temple.
- Hidden Depths: Nie Mingjue. He's noted to be a patient teacher with those who need it and is sensitive enough to stop the Venerated Triad so as not to startle a deer. He also attempts to reason with the Spider Spirit before attempting to kill it.
- It Can Think: Nie Mingjue realizes midway through fighting the Spider Spirit that it is capable of strategizing. He decides to try negotiating with it. It unfortunately gets nowhere.
- Lap Pillow: Jin Guangyao rests Nie Mingjue's head in his lap while trying to help him through a qi-deviation.
- Love Epiphany: Both Nie Mingjue and Jin Guangyao have separate epiphanies that they still love and care for one another despite everything that's passed between them.
- Madness Mantra: The spirit Lan Xichen encounters continuously says "I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry", to the point that it breaks his guqin strings!
- Major Injury Underreaction: Jin Guangyao attempts to shrug off a dislocated shoulder, saying that he managed to pop it back in on his own the last time it happened. Nie Mingjue is not happy to hear that.
- Maybe Ever After: The Venerated Triad. They don't get together during the fic, but given Xichen presents the other two with his Lan Forehead ribbon and they care about one another, they'll likely end up together.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Xichen loses his temper near the end of the fic when he sees his sworn brothers fighting. Again. He even swears at them, stunning them out of their fight.
- Peggy Sue: By the Venerated Triad's spirits in the future. It's implied that the future will be better after this event.
- Precision F-Strike: Both Nie Mingjue and Jin Guangyao drop the f-bomb a couple of times in the fic, but Lan Xichen gets one of these as well when he loses his temper. It shocks the other two into cooperating.Lan Xichen: Da-ge! A-Yao! Will you stop fucking fighting each other and actually fight the problem!
- Spared by the Adaptation: A line in the epilogue shows that Jin Zixuan and Jin Zixun survive Qiongqi Pass.
- Synchronization: When attacking the Boar Spirit, Nie Mingjue starts to have a qi-deviation. So does the spirit. Later, when Jin Guangyao sings "Cleansing" to soothe Mingjue, it soothes the spirit too. It's a hint that the Boar Spirit is Mingjue from the future.
- Later on, when Jin Guangyao and Nie Mingjue dual-cultivate together, they sense one another's pain and injuries.
- Tears of Joy: When Nie Mingjue and Jin Guangyao escape the temple unharmed, Xichen cries a few of these.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Nie Mingjue and Jin Guangyao, who are forced to work together when they're separated from Lan Xichen by a cave-in. They end up working together quite well, which unsettles them both.
- Tempting Fate: Discussed. When Nie Mingjue says he doesn't want to get stuck in another maze corridor, Jin Guangyao remarks that he's probably just jinxed them.
- Trail Of Breadcrumbs: Jin Guangyao uses the paste that makes his vermillion dot like this, marking tunnels they've already been down. Not that it helps, as the maze is constantly changing...
- Two Lines, No Waiting: Lan Xichen is separated from Nie Mingjue and Jin Guangyao very early, so their plotlines diverge. Mingjue and Guangyao get more focus, but Xichen's actions also get some focus.
