No Matter What You Are
is a Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation: Mo Dao Zu Shi fanfiction written on Archive of Our Own by LilyFaraday.
So you know how it goes — Wei Wuxian wakes up after being dead for thirteen years, stuck in a weak body belonging to the Black Sheep of the Mo family.
Thing is, in this universe, Mo Xuanyu was born female. It changes things.
Contains the following tropes:
- A-Cup Angst: After his initial horror at having breasts at all, Wei Wuxian expresses some envy over a few Lan female cultivators' curves and laments his own modest bust.
- Adaptational Name Change: Mo Lian instead of Mo Xuanyu.
- All Girls Want Bad Boys: Wei Wuxian complaining about the Yiling Patriarch being portrayed as ugly is dismissed by the picture-seller as "her" being the kind to romanticize horrible men. Wei Wuxian is tremendously insulted by the assumption.
- Ambiguous Gender Identity: Wei Wuxian is first horrified to be Reincarnated as the Opposite Sex, and keeps acting as a male in his new body. On the other hand, he's rather disappointed by his modest bust and has no qualms flirting with men now, something that confuses Lan Wangji. When Lan Wangji outright asks if Wei Wuxian feels uncomfortable as a female, the demonic cultivator admits his new gender comes with good and bad sides.
- And Now You Must Marry Me: Defied by Lan Wangji — yes, marrying "Mo Lian" would make their traveling together much easier and smoother, but he staunchly refuses to force Wei Wuxian in a relationship unless his love is fully willing, and plainly explains that to the Gender Bender.
- Crazy Jealous Guy: A merchant attempts to sell ribbons to Wei Wuxian, only for Lan Wangji to unleash such a potent Death Glare that the poor man cannot run quick enough to escape. He also thoroughly terrifies Nie Huaisang by quietly seething in front of Wei Wuxian's attempts at flirting for information.
- Crippling Castration: After first waking up in a female body, Wei Wuxian grabs his crotch in a panic and almost faints in horror as he confirms the lack of a penis, reflecting he would have accepted to have a manhood that wasn't technically his rather than being stuck without.
- Different for Girls: An ongoing theme — Lan Wangji is mortified when he looks at Wei Wuxian sitting legs apart and thinks he will have to explain a lady isn't allowed to do that, people are quicker to assume Wei Wuxian is helpless and needs protection, and Wei Wuxian is very aware that he's more at risk of being sexually assaulted or derided as unchaste in his new body.
- Everyone Has Standards:
- Lan Xichen is horrified at the prospect of his brother kidnapping a woman to dress her like his lost beloved and locking her in the Gentian House.
- Jin Ling is just as pissed as in canon to learn "Mo Lian" was the Yiling Patriarch reborn, but when Jin Guangyao drops that Wei Wuxian was pregnant when the boy assaulted him, Jin Ling reacts with contrition and remorse at the prospect of killing an unborn child.
- First Period Panic: Courtesy of Chinese society being rather heavily gender-segregated, both Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji had no idea whatsoever of menstruation being a thing so completely freaked when Mo Lian's body started bleeding, thinking Wei Wuxian was about to die or suffering a miscarriage from Mo Lian's previous intimate activities. It takes their innkeeper's mother intervening to reassure everyone.
- Gender Bender: The major divergence point is Wei Wuxian reincarnating in a female body. Even if he quickly rolls with it and adapts it in his favour, he nonetheless struggles with his new state.
- History Repeats: A Lan cultivator dragging an unwilling woman to the Cloud Recesses out of love? Lan Xichen and Lan Qiren certainly have seen the similarities, and are pretty upset over Lan Wangji apparently following in Qingheng-jun's footsteps, with the Sect Leader actually claiming this is "history repeating in the worst way".
- Honorable Marriage Proposal: As Lan Wangji is preparing to investigate the cursed arm's origin, Lan Xichen points traveling alone with "Mo Lian" will ruin "her" reputation and suggests his brother ought to take "her" as his bride to avoid spreading rumours of promiscuity.
- Imperiled in Pregnancy: Wei Wuxian learns he's in the first stages of carrying Lan Wangji's child right before going to search for clues that Jin Guangyao murdered Nie Mingjue, causing a lot of anguish when Jin Ling stabs him and puts him at risk for a miscarriage.
- Man, I Feel Like a Woman: Played for Drama when Wei Wuxian realizes he was reincarnated in a female body, as he grabs his chest to confirm his suspicions and feels a couple of details he previously lacked. He also pats his crotch only to be forced to admit the absence of another detail, and almost bursts into tears.
- Not What It Looks Like: Jiang Cheng splutters and flounders when Wei Wuxian publically accuses him from harassment, since everyone believes "Mo Lian" is Huanguang-jun's new bride and when another man is chasing after "her" and ready to assault "her" husband to get at "her", well, it hints some things.
- Precocious Crush: Ouyang Zhizhen quickly starts blushing around Wei Wuxian, prompting Lan Jingyi and Lan Sizhui to reveal "Lady Mo" is already married to Lan Wangji. Poor boy is heartbroken.
- Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: Wei Wuxian decides he has to escape the Mo estate right now as he overhears two servants planning to sexually assault "Mo Lian" since nobody will care about a madwoman, and trashes Mo Ziyuan's reputation in front of the Lan juniors by accusing him from coming into "her" bedroom at night and not acting like a cousin.
- Sexless Marriage: As a nervous Wei Wuxian inquires about the consequences of their wedding, Lan Wangji reassures him that he won't force intimacy on his beloved and will stay chaste.
- Single-Target Sexuality: Lan Wangji entirely believed he was asexual before he met Wei Wuxian. And he doesn't care about Wei Wuxian being a handsome man or a delicate lady, he will hopelessly love him no matter what.
- Uptown Girl: Gender-inverted, with a few Lan elders grumbling their Second Jade shouldn't marry a potentially insane bastard daughter of a known letch.
- Would Hit a Girl: Jiang Cheng doesn't care if Wei Wuxian is now stuck in a female body, he will use Zidian against the Yiling Patriarch.
- Wounded Gazelle Gambit: How Wei Wuxian turns his physical weakness and new gender to his advantage, crying piteously and begging to be rescued from his tormentors — first he accuses Mo Ziyuan from mistreating "Mo Lian" in front of the Lan juniors, then he outright denounces Lan Wangji as his kidnapper when Lan Xichen comes to greet them at the Cloud Recesses' gates.
