Fanfiction: Mo Yuan and Shao Wan - Chapter 31b (Ten Miles of PeachBlossoms 三生三世十里桃花)
Chapter 31b
written by kakashi and pandaYup, another NSFW-stayawayifyou'reunderage chapter
Shao Wan lightly traced patterns on Mo Yuan’s chest, her fingers drumming quick beats as they moved. Taptap, taptaptap, taptap. It was the rhythm to a demon song that had suddenly come to her from the depth of her memories, a warrior’s lament. Mo Yuan’s chest fascinated her. It was crisscrossed with many scars of different sizes and shapes. She had expected some, but not so many.
“Celestial, how come you have so many scars? You could have made them disappear,” she said as her finger lightly traced a prominent one just below his first rib.
“Getting rid of them defeats the purpose,” he answered. “Every scar, whichever way attained, is a reminder to be better prepared next time.”
“Ye Heavens, must you sound so pompous about the simplest things,” she retorted huffily. She felt his mouth move into a smile against her head in response.
“Celestial, when we sparred back in school, I got in quite a few hits, didn’t I.”
She felt him stir and then he gestured to a faint scar on his clavicle. She sat up to look at it more closely and knew without a doubt that the scar had been inflicted by her whip. She had marked her enemies like this more times than she could count.
“I have many that are your doing,” he quietly added.
“You really should have made them disappear,” she said, tracing it with her hand while looking for others that looked like whip-marks.
“Did I not just tell you-”
“Yes, yes. You see them as lessons. I understand,” she said shortly.
Why did she feel so discomfited that he wore her whip-marks on his body? They had been training and people got injuries all the time when they sparred. It was only natural the God of War would have scars. Yet, having marred his beautiful skin this way … she hated it.
“Because we fight so much in the Demon Realm, we often use magic to remove scars.”
“I find your ways interesting,” he said, “gaining cultivation through fighting. It’s so different from Celestial trials.”
“You Celestials and your paltry trials,” she said full of disdain, “we get physically stronger and keep our battle wits sharp while you go experience badly written heartbreak in the mortal realm. Pah! No wonder the average Celestial is so weak compared to us Demons - we annihilate your kind so easily.”
“Luckily, I’m not your average Celestial,” Mo Yuan said jokingly.
But she was quite worked up by now. “I cannot understand how your race has managed to dominate the realms for so long! Pompous fools dressed in fine clothes, stifled by nonsensical rules.”
“Stop,” he said sharply. “Woman, must everything be such a competition with you? All I said was I found your practices interesting. Please, let us not get into realm politics.”
His voice grew gentle again as he rested his fingers on her face: “I am more interested in knowing you fully. Should I continue with my explorations?”
It was true, he was not an average Celestial. He was one of the most formidable opponents she had ever had and if he were a Demon, she would probably not have been able to become Demon Overlord. Shao Wan smiled at him and bent down to receive his kiss. Or we would have been Overlords together, she thought before she got lost in the kiss and what followed after.
***
“Shao Wan, are you still awake?” Mo Yuan whispered into her ear. He was dead tired, but this needed to be resolved.
“Mhm?”
“Can you please put your toad away.”
“Leave him be,” she mumbled, half asleep.
“Shao Wan, he is staring at us.” The black eyes of the tiny toad were fixed on him, as if it were considering whether to hunt and eat him. It had moved closer and was now right next to them, on top of candle holder.
“All frogs stare. Let me sleep.”
“I will get a bowl for him. Let’s put him at the entrance, outside.”
“Will you stop talking? I’m beginning to think I prefered you all silent and broody.”
She took his arm and placed it underneath her head like a pillow. “I know what I’m seeing”, Mo Yuan muttered, very quietly, but put his other arm around her waist, hugging her close. It was indeed ridiculous to get worked up over a toad, but the animal was really behaving strangely. Even now, with his back to it, he felt its eyes on him. But then, it was even stranger that the prickliest of women didn’t object to being held like this, so he better made sure to hug her to his heart’s content before she changed her mind.
As soon as he inhaled the scent of her hair, he started to forget about the strange behavior of her pet and felt himself drifting off to sleep too. It had been a very long night.
“Mo Yuan?”
“Yes, Shao Wan.”
“Can you unseal my powers just a little?”
She would never stop asking him this, of course, and he felt sorry he couldn't do what she wished for every time. “Fully, as soon as you’re healed and can control them.”
“I want to give Fong Hung some of my cultivation to help him regain his human form quicker.”
“I can help with that.”
When she stiffened a little in his embrace, Mo Yuan realized he had overstepped. How could he have forgotten she was the kind of woman who refused to accept help from anyone, out of principle and pride! The worst that could happen was her starting to think about owing debts and what it meant that he gave her refuge at Kunlun… it was highly likely she’d decide to leave again.
“It can only be a very limited amount each time”, he quickly followed up, “cross-essence repair can no longer be done, there is no more fungal grass in the world.”
“What?” she was fully awake immediately and sat up, turning around to face him. “What happened?”
“My brother … he destroyed it and sank Yingzhou Island.”
“Is he crazy?” she exclaimed.
Mo Yuan didn’t know whether to protest or to agree. Yes, Ye Hua had done something reckless and crazy, to hasten the time of his return. For the first time since his awakening though, Mo Yuan thought it was a good thing he had not needed 7,000 or 8,000 more years to assemble his soul. He would not be here with her like this if he had.
“He had to do it, the Heavenly Lord ordered it so. With the last fungal grass, he-” Mo Yuan's voice trailed off.
Shao Wan looked like she wanted to follow up with more questions, but when she caught his expression, she simply settled down to sleep again.
“You can tell me about it some other time,” she yawned and closed her eyes. “Fong Hung is fine, he does not need any cultivation at the moment anyway.”
Mo Yuan was grateful she did not ask for more information. He had never talked to anybody about how terrifying it had been when his soul scattered. He preferred not to think about it at all - the memories were too dark and too painful. But he thought if he would ever tell someone, it would be Shao Wan. She would understand, having gone through something similar.
This brief talk about the past had been sufficient to make him uneasy and sleep did not come easily anymore. He listened to her breathing and he checked on her health with his powers. He was glad to see the Kunlun energy, magnified in his meditation cave, was working its wonders - she already was much better than when he had brought her here.
Her most recent encounter with Cheng Yin had left her in very bad shape, her energy points had been nearly destroyed. It looked like she had tried to use her sky-powers against him, but something had gone badly wrong … he would have to inquire about it, to understand what they were up against. He was putting it off, since talking to her about Cheng Yin was not something he looked forward to at all. The mere mention of the Yellow King’s name was enough to make his blood boil. And the knowledge that she had been intimate with that man...
But she was here with him now. Gently, so as not to wake her, he moved his fingers across the line of her arm, waist, and hip. Her skin was incredibly soft. Heavens. A mere touch did it - he was ready again. His desire for her knew no bounds. At this rate, they would simply never come out of the cave and spend the rest of their lives in seclusion together. What a tempting thought.
But she should rest, not exert herself with him. He would have to stop being selfish. He forced himself to calm down, closing his eyes and moving slightly away from the inviting warmth of her body. He breathed slowly in and out, until sleep came.
****
Mo Yuan often had nightmares, especially after his return. In this night, he had one of the worst he had ever had. He was caught in between waking and dreaming, unable to move, yet aware of everything. His soul was scattered. He no longer existed, and yet, horrible pain tethered him to what had been his life. He wanted to break free, to finally experience the nothingness that called to him, but there was a promise, a body in a cave, forbidden yearning and ancient magic that did not let him leave.
The agony was too much. He could not keep his promise, because he was not strong enough to endure this. It was all a meaningless struggle, inevitably ending in dishonor and crushing defeat. Millennia of cultivation dissipated in the blink of an eye. If only it would end already. But it did not end. It lasted for an eternity, crushing him entirely.
His screaming woke him up and there was someone next to him, calling his name, shaking him. His instinct was to defend himself and blast the person with magic, but luckily, his body recognized her before his head did. Instead of gravely wounding her, he slung his arms around Shao Wan and held her very, very tight. It was instinct too. Holding on to the solid presence of another person helped to drive the horror away, the feeling of dying a excruciatingly painful and meaningless death.
“It was but a dream,” Shao Wan said softly and clumsily stroked his hair.
The pain slowly subsided, to become a distant memory again, yet it was still there, at the edge of his awareness. The dread was still there too. He would never be safe. He would always have to fear fate, who knew to send her warnings when he was about to forget. He had been too lucky from the moment he had left his mother’s womb as Father Immortal’s only son, brimming with immortal powers. Fate would not let him be happy too. There had to be balance in the universe.
“Would you mind crushing me a little less,” Shao Wan added, breathless.
He had almost moved against her, he realized with a renewed feeling of panic, he could have killed her.
“Let’s make love,” she whispered and brushed her lips over his mouth.
She offered him the opportunity to lose himself and his fears in the sweetness of her embrace, to forget his past and his future. He gladly accepted. I understand, he told Fate, I get it. But let me be selfish just one more time, before we need to step out of here, before I need to become the Master of Kunlun Mountains again. One more time.
****
It was a weird sensation, but Shao Wan, usually quite aware of things like time, had lost track of it while being in the semi-darkness of Mo Yuan’s cave, sleeping very little if at all. She knew they could not have been in here for more than 2 days... but it felt both longer and also shorter, almost as if time flowed differently in here. Maybe it did.
She sneaked a glance at the man sleeping by her side. Earlier, his screams had woken her up and she had been temporarily terrified before realizing he was just having a nightmare. She was extremely curious to know what could make the God of War be so horrified, but she was not going to pry. He had not offered any information and she was glad they upheld some boundaries between the two of them.
The truth was, she was deeply moved by the vulnerability the God of War had let her see. She had been moved by how he had held onto her, moved to be someone he would turn to in his moment of weakness. And she was touched by his frantic lovemaking afterwards, which spoke of an urgent need to lose himself in pleasure, knowing it would not last.
She hated all these feelings. He was not at all like the Mo Yuan she had known as her enemy almost all her life. She did not like that he confused her. Mo Yuan, the man and Mo Yuan, her enemy… they were one and the same. She had to be damn careful not to lose sight of the enemy while getting to know the man.
The man looked quite delicious though, sleeping like this, his face so calm and innocent. No sign of the enemy. She felt an urge to trace the contours of his features, to touch the feminine eyelashes and sensual lips. To kiss the lips, actually. Well, she would just wake him up.
“Shao Wan,” he murmured sleepily when she had pressed her lips against his and licked them.
This was her chance. She swiftly reached up and took off his hair ornament. His hair came undone at once and she involuntarily held her breath - not only did he look much younger this way, he was also far more beautiful.
“Shao Wan,” he said warningly, suddenly wide awake.
“Celestial, why do you never let your hair out? Is it one of your stupid rules that it must be in knot all the time?”
He sat up. That was fortunate, because she could admire him much better this way. She had to bury her hands in that hair. She had to pull it.
“It must be one reserved only for the highest gods,” she purred, “because I don’t seem to remember hearing about it at school.”
“I can see you woke up in a good mood,” he retorted drily.
“I can also put you in one,” she whispered, the mood in the cave shifting to one that made her tummy hum, “but under one condition: you leave your hair down as long as we’re in here.”
“Done,” he whispered, his eyes hooded and dark with desire.
“Good,” she pushed him down onto his back and straddled him.
As she leant down to kiss him, he suddenly grabbed her head in his hands.
“Shao Wan, I have not yet thanked you for-”
Her mouth took possession of his then, ending and blocking what he was going to say. Damn Celestial and his sneaky emotional ways, she he would not get sucked in more than this.
Her mouth slanted over his with hard insistence. The kiss was one of possession as her tongue thrust inside and rubbed against his. She could feel his hard arousal between her thighs and she ground on it. He kissed her back, his tongue tangling with hers, his hands shifting, tormenting her till she lost control. Moaning, she entwined her fingers in his long flowing hair and abandoned herself to his kiss.
The tempo shifted as the pace slowed. She urged him to sit up by pulling on his hair, not breaking the kiss, but wanting more contact between their bodies. He wrapped his arms around her, his hands expressing his urgency as they roamed over her body, inflaming her senses as his hips thrust against hers, urging her to take what she wanted, telling her he wanted the same. She took him in then, her inner muscles clamped against his hardness, squeezing him as she moved on him, her eyes locked to his.
Her climax hit fiercely, urgently and she felt her body heat up quite intensely as she lost herself in the sensations.
Surfacing slowly, Shao Wan stared into his hypnotic eyes, watching their color and mood change from the smoky darkness of passion to their usual enigmatic black color, while reality slowly returned. Her hand still lay curved around his neck and it dawned on her that, beneath her fingers, his skin was fiery hot. So she had indeed felt something else during the culmination of their coupling. Could it be some of her phoenix fire had escaped? That meant his seal on her was really weakening, she had not been wrong, she thought joyfully. It probably wasn’t made for such repeated strain.
He always looked particularly youthful after their lovemaking and now, with his hair flowing all around him, he was even more of a sight to behold. She disentangled herself from him and ran her eyes appreciatively over his muscular body. Her eyes caught on something strange then.
“What scar is this?” she whispered, seeing one she had not noticed before. It covered a large part of his abdomen and looked very painful. How could she have missed it?
“Fire,” he shrugged, after looking down.
She squinted at him, demanding more information.
“Yes, your fire,” he finally said quietly.
She remembered Fong Hung’s words, about how the God of War had been gravely hurt during the Demon War.
“I hurt you this much?” she said, quite horrified.
“It is no matter, Shao Wan. The scar disappears as soon as my temperature returns to normal. It only flares up when I’m really hot.”
She held her breath, afraid he would say something about the seal, but he didn't. The appearance of the scar was nothing out of the ordinary, it seemed.
“It’s my name,” she said in awe.
“I beg your pardon?”
“Here, on your body. 少 (shao) 绾 (wan).” She traced the characters with her finger, but he visibly flinched at her touch while he was laughing at what he clearly thought was a joke.
She withdrew her hand, realizing his skin must be really tender there, silently watching as the scar slowly disappeared from view again. Mo Yuan wrapped his arms around her, drew her close and fell asleep against her back. Listening to his slow, deep breathing, she marvelled at what it could possibly mean that she had branded this man like this, without even knowing.
Chapter 32