Fanfiction: Mo Yuan and Shao Wan - Chapter 11 (Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms 三生三世十里桃花)

Chapter 11

Written by kakashi
Cultural and Dijun Consultant: Juls
Edits: JoAnne

After leaving the orchard drunk and furious, Shao Wan went on a rampage. Frankly, she did not remember much about it later, but there were many tales told in all the realms about an unsettling storm without rain that night, of lightning without thunder, of bone-chilling howling - and some said cursing - in the skies.

Her fury-filled journey took her to the Ghost Realm (some of the generals there thought Qing Can had returned, and swore the sky had been lit up by crimson hellfire,) to the foot of Kunlun Mountain (she vaguely remembered kicking the pillars of the open gate, screaming, but she did not venture in -the divine energy made her teeth hurt,) and finally to the mortal realm, where she terrorized town upon town. It ended when she happened upon a wine festival and jumped off her cloud, creating an eardrum-shattering noise. All the mortals ran away screaming (if they didn’t faint) and she drank wine until she saw double.

When morning came, Shao Wan felt somewhat calmer and zapped herself back to the cave at the foot of Jingmei Mountain. The worshipers had left offerings and had gone back to their dwellings. Only Fong Hung was there to welcome her. He was standing at the cave entrance where she had left him and gasped: “Ancestor, your clothes …?”

Ah, yes.

“Bring me new ones! I will skin you alive if they look anything like what Celestials wear!” she screamed, her voice now gone a bit hoarse.

Sniffling indignantly, she went into the cave and sat down on the slab of stone she'd woken up on. It also happened to be the only place to sit in this damn hole.

Hot rage engulfed her again. To send his Fox bitch to her like that! How dare he!

The Fox woman had been very beautiful, she had immediately noticed, and was a High Goddess of considerable power. As soon as Shao Wan started thinking about the encounter, she realized the following: First, she did not know this Fox High Goddess, so it was likely she had been born after Shao Wan’s death. Second, being so powerful and self-assured, she had to be of the Bai Family … which made her, third and without much doubt, a daughter of Fox King Bai Zhi.

Well, that changed things. Not only was Bai Zhi extremely powerful, he had also always been civil to Shao Wan back at school, unlike the other bastards. Offending his daughter was bad form in addition to being stupid. Had she called the Fox Daughter names? Shao Wan tried to remember, but she had been so furious in that orchard she had basically blacked out.

Shao Wan sniffled again. She would wait for an opportune moment to see how much offense she had given and would then apologize to Bai Zhi’s daughter in an appropriate manner. She hated apologizing almost as much as she hated Celestials, but angering Qing Qiu was decidedly not something she wanted.

So that interesting and very powerful artifact in the Fox’s hand, that was probably one of Mo Yuan’s famous weapons, she concluded. Even at school, he had constantly crafted things to impress his father, but she had only ever heard tales of his later, truly impressive creations. She wondered how her own powerful weapon, the Demon Tongue Whip, would fare against the Fox’s fan or other artifacts of Mo Yuan's.

Thinking about her whip and its possible whereabouts (might it have burned with her?) naturally led to her thinking about chaining up and then whipping Mo Yuan until he bled out. That image made her body tingle in the most delightful ways. Was it because Zhe Yan’s spiked wine was still in her system? Here she sat, alone and full of lust, while the Celestial bastard must be enjoying himself with his Fox, laughing at her. He had made her beg. He! Her!

It suddenly struck Shao Wan that all of this was quite hilarious.

Goddamn Celestial bastard, where had he acquired the skill? She smacked her lips, remembering his kisses, his hands on her, his fingers… and instantly became wet again. Since it was unlikely he had acquired those skills after becoming a constantly-cultivating Taoist Monk, he must have had them in school already. Which meant she, completely ignorant, had wasted them for 30’000 years. The fun they could have had! Instead of only just fighting for days they could have mixed it with coupling for days - guaranteed to make him forget about those boring philosophy or strategy lessons he valued so much.

A shame they hated each other. A shame she would have to kill him. But she would make sure to pay him back tenfold for what he had done to her before she did.

***

"Dong Hua."

"Mo Yuan."

Mo Yuan sat down in Dijun’s study at Taichen Palace, appreciating the simple, harmonious design of the furniture. A maid served them tea and they drank in silence. Mo Yuan noticed it was the teacups he had gifted to Dijun before the Ghost War, though in slightly altered form. Maybe they had been broken and Dong Hua, an exceptional artist, had mended and in the process perfected them. There was a lesson in this, Mo Yuan realized; something once broken did not need to remain so. In the right hands and with the right care, it could become even more perfect.

"So you are still not married," Dong Hua remarked.

“Indeed odd to think that you are and I am not.”

Dong Hua snickered.

"Shao Wan is back,” Mo Yuan announced. But of course, Dijun knew this already, as he most certainly knew this was the reason behind today's early morning visit. The moment of her resuscitation yesterday had been hard to miss.

"I am guessing she won’t be happy to see you….” Dong Hua caught Mo Yuan’s expression and continued. “Oh, she has already seen you? You two lose no time. Then I should congratulate you on still being alive! That woman has quite a temper; and a grudge, I’m sure."

That was certainly true, Mo Yuan thought. His disciples had told him about a very mad, raging woman at the Kunlun Gates last night.

"I fear another war might be inevitable, Dong Hua. You know how tense the situation is in the Ghost and the Demon realms. Her return will create turmoil at the least, and a united Demon front against us at the worst.”

"Then you will stop her, like you stopped her before. You don’t carry the title God of War for nothing.”

Dong Hua looked at Mo Yuan with raised eyebrows when no reaction came. “You will stop her, won’t you?"

“Have you ever known me not to do what is expected of me?”

Dong Hua looked amused. “Seeing how you survived your first meeting, why don’t you go and talk to her about upholding the peace before the Demon Kings give her a different idea? In case you do not want to kill her a second time."

Mo Yuan said nothing. Dong Hua knew quite well what had happened.

“I remember her ‘fondness’ for you at school. She would do anything to draw your blood. You are the perfect emissary. But bleed you must! This will be a low price to pay, weighed against all the blood another Demon War would cost.”

“It’s true, she has always hated me more than anybody else.”

Mo Yuan couldn’t help but smile a little at this point. He imagined her, eyes ablaze, cursing him violently. It really should not have pleased him that much, this thought. There were other thoughts following this thought and he quickly stopped himself from thinking them, because they led to impossible things.

“It would be best if you met at Zhe Yan’s Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms. It’s neutral grounds. You can sit and talk there, civilly. Drink some wine.“

The smile disappeared from Mo Yuan’s face instantly. “Has that meddling Old Phoenix talked to you?"

“He didn’t need to.”

Their activities in the orchard had not stayed a secret for long, Mo Yuan thought. He shouldn’t have expected it - his friends had always taken great joy in taunting and unsettling him. Just like her.

“Your blood alone won’t be enough to sway her though,” Dong Hua continued. “You need to find out what she wants and then meet her halfway. I am thinking she might need protection, but don’t use that word. Also, careful: she is sly and cunning. Don’t let yourself be tricked."

Mo Yuan nodded.

“And don’t succumb to her considerable charms. Hm, now I am thinking we should not take this lightly. Demon women, I can tell you from experience, are a handful. And persistent. And for some, hard to resist."

“Dong Hua….”

“Nothing the God of War cannot handle, of course.” Dong Hua finished his tea and got up. "It’s settled, then. The God of War will prevent a new war! Is it not magnificent to have such an important task? I will send Si Ming to find her and arrange a meeting as soon as possible. You two, alone.”

***

Fong Hung came back with a selection of dresses around noon. It had taken him an eternity. Shao Wan disliked all of them, but since she had no other choice, she selected the least horrible. Her mount brought her food, too, but no shoes. She sat on her stone gnawing some dried meats, and sighed. So far, her return was a bit of a mess.

Just when she was about to seriously consider what to do next, Fong Hung came running.

“Ancestor, ancestor!” he breathed, “the Star Lord Si Ming is outside!”

Si Ming was Dong Hua’s retainer and anything or anyone following Dijun was usually a lot of fun. She got up from her stone, smoothed her hair and her dress, and proceeded to gracefully step outside.

Si Ming eyed her curiously but was an otherwise pleasant and polite fellow. He had a message from Dijun, which he delivered without much ado. Dijun requested her for a meeting with Mo Yuan, an official, diplomatic meeting (Shao Wan sniggered as Si Ming mentioned that twice, with emphasis and a little smirk) in Zhe Yan’s Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms on the following day, to discuss official relations between Heavenly Tribe and Demons.

Shao Wan was delighted. Official relations were far from her mind, but she reveled in this chance to pay the Celestial bastard back, come much quicker than she had thought possible.

She would have to thank Dijun for this.

Chapter 12