Fanfic: Mo Yuan and Shao Wan 2.0 - Chapter 38 (Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms 三生三世十里桃花)
Chapter 38
written by kakashiedited by LigayaCroft & Panda
Eyes like deep pools of midnight shadow in a perfectly sculpted face. The long hair loose, sweeping teasingly across bare flesh, the movement graceful and yet dangerous like a predator. Immaculate skin shimmers golden in the sparse candlelight, her hands already know it feels like the most precious of silks, but they falter in midair helplessly as his expert touch sets her ablaze. A moan escapes treacherous lips, unsuccessfully shut tight a mere moment ago in defiance to deny him the reaction he was seeking. His victorious smile as he peers down at her quivering, defenseless form is far too smug. He always wants to win - and he often does. It’s because he knows how to play her… like an instrument.
“Mo Yuan”, she whispers, her voice thick with desire.
“No,” he says and his eyes turn a little darker. “Fooled again.”
The persistent movement of his hands make coherent thought impossible. Her eyes flutter shut against her own will, her skin tingling with a mixture of ecstasy and fear. She has lost control. It feels as precarious as it is exciting.
“Mo Yuan?” she calls out, this time a question.
“I am here,” he says.
Arms pick her up and turn her around. Skin as smooth as silk against her entire body, building a shell around her. She opens her eyes, but the candles have been extinguished, it is utterly dark now. Her lips seek the softness and comfort of his, foolish in their belief that they are a sanctuary. They are not: The hands are demanding their prize, they are merciless in their pursuit to make her yield to pleasure, to make her lose herself.
“Just let go,” he whispers.
There was no “just” in letting go, and he knew that very well. There always had been poisonous knives directed at her, waiting to shoot forward at her smallest mistake. But there was a shell around her now, strong limbs encircling her, pleasure building ever higher.
“Will you catch me?” she asks.
“Yes,” both of them say.
She lets go. And she floats, floats, fl...
“Shao Wan. Shao Wan! Wake up!”
It was whispered with urgency, right next to her ear, but she felt like she was back in her egg, all safe and warm and cozy. As her dream faded away rapidly and she gained more awareness of her surroundings, she realized she was lying in the Celestial’s arms, one her pillow, one around her body, on a bed that was much too narrow for two people. Wake up? She didn’t want to wake up. This wasn’t her egg, but it felt almost as good. She closed her eyes again and snuggled closer to his warm body and the protection it provided.
“Other immortals are close,” he said.
“Oh, good!” she exclaimed and tried to turn around without falling off so that she could face him in the semi-dark, “they can take us back home!”
She might not remember the details of what had gotten them here and talking had not been anything either of them had wanted to do the night before, given there were so many other things to keep lips and tongues occupied with, but she had realized that both their powers were too low and volatile to be used for cloud-jumping. She was still surprised at this, since she had never known him to be reckless. And losing one’s powers in the mortal world to this extent was about the most reckless thing any immortal could do.
“We need to get dressed and leave,” Mo Yuan said. “Now.”
Now? She squinted at his naked form, not that she needed to see anything to know how pleasing it all was. Extending her hand, she placed it on his stomach. Hard muscles everywhere.
“For an old man, you’re really…”
“Now,” he repeated and grabbed her hand before it could venture anywhere else. “We don’t want to be found by them.”
Oh, they were on the run from something? She grinned at him, though he probably couldn’t see it.
“You’re still shining like a beacon. They are.”
Instinctively, her hand went to her tummy. They were shining?
“We will need to find a way to hide their auras,” he said and his lips briefly touched her forehead, the scruff on his face tickling her, “but now, get up.”
She did, fumbling for their clothes and then the candle, but he was faster and lit it … with magic?
“You are gaining powers fast,” she observed frowning. It was just like him to show off like this. But she couldn’t hold that thought for long, because seeing him naked was highly distracting.
“You too,” he replied, starting to put on his undergarments, “but the children demand a lot of it right away. We’ll have to...”
“Do you have a brother?” she asked, interrupting him, but needing to know where those images had come from. Two Mo Yuans, but one not like the other… One was already a handful, two seemed a bit too much to handle.
He froze. Would he make this stoney face every time she asked him about what she had forgotten? It was quite annoying.
“I dreamt about him,” she informed him. “We m…”
Remembering Celestial propriety, she shut her mouth in time. No need to relay details.
“I do have a brother,” he said and frowned a little. His eyes started searching the room for things to pack, “he is the Crown Prince of the Thirty-Six Heavens, his name is Ye Hua. His cultivation is equal to mine by our Father’s grace though he is more than 300’000 years younger than me. My Father transferred his unborn spirit to a Golden Lotus that I cherished at Kunlun until… until it was time for him to come into the world.”
“Oh,” she said. Many questions blossomed in her head, like how Father Immortal had been able to preserve the spirit of an unborn child in an object without being punished for it. Or had he been and she just didn’t know? But it didn’t seem the time for such discussions and Mo Yuan was decidedly not interested in revealing anything more, even though she sensed there was more.
“We must go,” he said softly. He stood at the door, now fully dressed, looking at her with an expression she couldn’t quite read, with eyes that glowed softly in the candlelight. Her hands went up to her hair in a self-conscious gesture quite unlike herself.
“Is my hair in disarray?” she asked and felt herself blushing. Whatever was the matter with her? Frowning, she bit her lip.
“A little,” he answered and smiled ever so slightly, “but it’s more that you should get dressed since we need to run.”
He even helped her put on her clothes, almost as expertly as a maidservant would do it - the only difference was that his hands strayed quite often, to caress random parts of her, almost as if he could not control himself. The effect of this was that she was breathing heavily by the time they were done and running was far from her mind.
“How’s your wound?” she asked him, “do I need to redress it?”
“There is no time,” he answered with a frown. Her hand shot forward to tap his shoulder and when he flinched, she knew he had not healed himself.
“We will make time,” she said, “soon.” She would undress him very slowly. She would make sure to tease him just like he always teased her.
A sharp intake of breath from her all of a sudden. She had not felt them before, but now she did: the auras of immortals in the street, not far. Demons? she wondered. Had they come for her? Where they foe or friend? What was the situation in her Kingdom?
“Who is Overlord?” she asked the Celestial who had taken her hand before he opened the door to listen for sounds below.
“Yi Mei Niang,” he answered distractedly.
Who?
“What happened to Qing Jiang?”
“His son killed him.”
“Ha!” That little weakling? There was a story there she really wanted to hear.
“And you killed his son to end a war.”
“Oh.”
It wasn’t often the case that the Celestial expressed emotions when he spoke, but that had been said with so much hate, she almost felt a little scared. Fine, she didn’t need to know the details of this either. At least not right now.
“This way,” the Celestial whispered and pulled her along the corridor. The immortals were close indeed… and now, she sensed another presence… Celestials.
“What is going on?” she demanded to know, pulling against his hand. But he grasped hers more strongly and pulled her forward more determinantly.
“You did something you shouldn’t have done,” he informed her, “I am sure both Tribes are here to apprehend you.”
Me? So she was the one in trouble and he wasn’t? she snorted. Of course, the stick-in-the-mud Celestial was much too proper to ever do anything untoward. Though… putting babies into her womb was probably the most untoward thing a Celestial like him could ever do.
“Let’s go out here,” he said and indicated a window ahead.
Sneaking around with him like this wasn’t the worst thing she could imagine and she followed after him with quite some enthusiasm. They found themselves on a small, somewhat slippery roof above a dark courtyard.
“Careful,” he said and gripped her hand even more strongly. “I will go down and then you can jump into my arms.”
That made her laugh, but he shot her an angry look and put his finger against his lips.
“You are pregnant,” he told her sternly, “you must be far more careful now. For example, you are not allowed to fight anymore.”
“Who says that!” she exclaimed. No more fighting? How was she supposed to gain cultivation then? How dare he suggest this!
“I say so,” he answered in that tone of his that sounded like he was scolding children.
“You can tell me nothing,” she snapped.
“I am your husband,” he snapped back, “I can tell you a lot of things.”
That confused her enough to render her quiet for as long as it took him to lithely jump down into the courtyard and extend his arms towards her. He had claimed this before, like she should know. She searched her memories, but in vain… She had once vowed she would never tie herself to any man. She had always planned to have a male harem, but they would not have the rights of husbands, none of them. Even if she did not remember what had happened in the last 260’000 years, she knew she would never allow any man, not even this man, to tell her what to do.
Stubbornly, she jumped, but made sure not to land in his arms. It angered him greatly, but since they were still in danger of being discovered, he said nothing, but simply indicated to her to follow him. That she did, because he chose their way for retreat wisely. At one point, he used magic on her, likely to mask the aura of the children, and it was enough to make him cough for quite some time afterwards. He muffled the sound by coughing into his sleeve and she felt a little pang of guilt for not complying to his wishes before. He was doing this for her, after all.
I’ll jump into his arms next time, she told herself, there’s no harm in this, and grasped his sleeve instead as they tiptoed through the dark town, skillfully avoiding discovery.
***
“She is not here,” Yu Dian hissed at Yue, ready to let his mounting anger spill over. The room was dark and empty. Only some warm tea on one of the tables spoke of inhabitants that had recently left.
“Did you think High God Mo Yuan and the Lady Shao Wan would let us catch them so easily?” the guard shrugged.
His nonchalant and rather impolite way of talking to him did nothing to appease Yu Dian. No, of course he had not thought this mission an easy one, knowing well whom they were up against. But maybe a part of him had hoped that the Lady Shao Wan would be reasonable and follow them back to the Demon Realm without resistance. Even if it was true that she had used dark magic against the Crown Princess, what did he care? Celestials and anybody associating with them deserved nothing better. He was certain that most Demons would readily stand behind her if Celestials really made a move against their Tribe. Nothing else was to be expected of the Rulers anyway… their contempt for what they considered beneath them knew no bounds, slaughtering entire populations was not unheard of. But Demons would put up a fight, even if it meant annihilation. It was what they knew to do and the only option they had.
Yu Dian had served Yi Mei Niang loyally up until now, but he considered her more recent weakness a great fallacy. Instead of spitting the Celestial messenger in the face, she had accepted the Royal decree and had sent him and other men down to the mortal worlds to look for the Lady Shao Wan, after locating her with the help of the Demon Mirror - just like she wanted to do what they had demanded of her. Hand her over. The Demon Ancestor! It was preposterous.
“I will look for a trail,” Yue said.
Just like a dog? Yu Dian thought viciously. No need to deny how much he hated the Purple Queen’s Head of Guards. There was something about his carefree ways that rubbed him the wrong way. And yes, he knew about him and Tian Gu. Who didn’t.
Suddenly, the Guard stiffened. “Celestials,” he growled.
Get out quickly and be glad if they were not discovered? Or stand their ground and make sure the Celestials would not catch their prey first?
“Let’s scare them,” the Guard said and moved into a dark corner near the door. He was brave, that much he would admit, Yu Dian thought as he grasped his sword a little tighter and did the same.
It was eight of them, wearing silly white armory that had to be a pest to clean. Two entered the room while the rest waited outside.
“They’re not here,” said their likely leader.
“Star Lord Tian Shu,” said the second with a bow, “they must have sensed us coming.”
“Hmmm,” the one addressed such said, “but why would High God Mo Yuan avoid talking to us?”
“Maybe because he hates you just as much as we hate you,” Yue said and jumped forward, his sword at the second one’s throat in a flash.
“Demons!” one of the men outside shouted. Too late. Yu Dian sprang forward to engage the leader and soon found himself clashing swords with him.
“Do not use magic!” the one called Tian Shu called out to his men. Their mistake, Yu Dian thought, but what to expect of Celestials but strict adherence to their stupid laws. He blasted energy at his opponent, using a little more power than necessary just to make a point. The white clad man toppled over, spinning in the air and slamming against a wall.
By now, everyone in the inn was awake and running around screaming.
“That was fun,” Yu Dian grinned and indicated to Yue to make a move. But the Guard was cornered, currently up against three Celestials. Yu Dian attacked them from behind, giving the Demon Guard room to breathe. But a sudden searing pain across his back made him cry out - that bloody Tian Shu had already recovered and had cut him rather substantially.
“Take them prisoner!” Tian Shu shouted, thinking that had gone easy.
But Demons were not easily taking prisoner. Cursing under his breath, Yu Dian gathered powers for another spell when Yue grabbed his arm and jumped forward with uncanny speed.
“Out, you fool,” the Guard hissed at him, “we are outnumbered greatly.”
They rushed down the stairs together, Yu Dian feeling a bit faint all of a sudden, outside into the cold night air, down the streets, zigzagging here and there until they collapsed against a wall, breathing heavily.
“You’re bleeding like a half-butchered pig,” Yue observed.
“Did we get them too?” Yu Dian wheezed, trying not to grit his teeth from the pain.
“I hope not,” Yue grumbled, “don’t you know no blood is to be spilled during peacetime?”
Yu Dian laughed bitterly. “No Celestial blood, you mean.”
“I thought you a smarter man,” Yue observed, “do you think taking on Celestial rule head on is a good plan?”
“I’m still a Demon Lord,” Yu Dian coughed, “while you are not. Insult me again and I will have your head.”
“I thank you for this invaluable lesson,” the Guard said and bowed low, “my Lord.”
Infuriating. Yu Dian gritted his teeth and tried to get up, but he sank back with an exclamation of pain.
“My Lord is injured,” Yue observed drily, “maybe this lowly servant can be of assistance.”
“You will regret this,” Yu Dian pressed out, but he was feeling increasingly faint. He was trying to gather powers to heal himself, but they would not obey him.
Cultivation hit him from behind. The pain lessened. And now you want me to be grateful, Yu Dian thought spitefully.
“We need to move,” the Guard said, “they will be able to follow the trail of blood you left behind. Also, you lack finesse and need to work on your technique.”
How dare he?!
“You may glower at me all you want, my Lord,” Yue grinned, “it’s the truth. I watched the High God Mo Yuan train with the Horse Princess every morning from when they came to the Demon Realm and I have learned a great deal about martial arts from him.”
Bloody Celestial Dragon. Born with everything and made friends effortlessly, even amongst an enemy tribe. Him he hated even more than this insolent Guard.
“I do not care about good form,” Yu Dian scoffed, “my life is worthless anyway. I live for revenge.”
“If you believe that,” Yue laughed, “you are even more stupid than I thought. My Lord.”
Rendered speechless, Yu Dian stared at the other Demon.
“You are high-born,” Yue lectured him, “you have never known hunger. You have never known the loneliness of a child who was abandoned by those that were his entire world. You have a home, a throne. You have subjects that look up to you, you are someone of value. You… it is you whom our Queen wants to marry to the Horse Princess to bring together our Tribes.”
Now it was Yu Dian’s time to laugh. “You are a fool, Guard. Do you really think that woman will let anybody tell her what to do?”
Yue pouted. He looked very unhappy. Fine, Yu Dian thought, let him believe this. It’ll be a short and worthless victory.
Suddenly, he sensed something. “Quiet,” he whispered and conjured up an invisibility spell around them, though it took a great effort.
“What is it?” the Guard asked.
“You cannot sense it? Somebody else just arrived in town.”
Soulswappers.
***
“Stop,” Shao Wan wheezed, “I can’t breathe.”
Instantly, Mo Yuan jumped to her side and held her. “What is wrong, Shao Wan?” he asked, “is it the babies?”
She desperately needed to pee, her innards were in a pitiful knot, and her belly felt heavy and uncomfortable. “Yes of course,” she wheezed, “what else.” At least she hoped so.
“I am so very sorry,” he said and sounded so distressed, she instinctively lifted her hand to pat his cheek.
“I just need to rest a little,” she assured him, feeling the blood pound in her ears. If she felt like this in the very beginning of this pregnancy, how would she feel towards the end? She shuddered at the thought.
“Are you cold?” he asked and took off his cloak to drape it around her shoulders. She was the exact opposite, much too hot, but she let him do this for her as she sat down against a tree. He hovered like a concerned mother hen afterwards.
“I am hungry,” she informed him.
“Yes of course,” he said, “I should never have pressed on so hard. There is a town not far ahead. I can carry you.”
A memory stirred, but it did not reach the surface. A promise she once made?
“I’m too heavy,” she said instead.
“Do you think me weak?” he asked in return.
Looking him up and down, she could only shake her head. He was many things, but definitely not weak. Not even weakened he was weak.
“If you could get me a little something to eat right now…” she began.
“I will look for something,” he said quickly and turned in the direction of the forest. But then he stopped and looked back. “Will you be alright by yourself? Do not go anywhere, do you hear me?”
Just let me pee in peace, she thought, nodding vigorously. “Fully alright. I will wait right here.”
He nodded and walked away swiftly. Heaving a sigh of relief she went behind to bushes to relieve herself. Feeling a bit better afterwards she sat down again against the tree, rubbing her belly. It was as flat as it always had been. Of course, the babies were still tiny. Trying to remember whether she had ever seen pregnant women up close, she encountered the black hole again. “Go away!” she told it, “I don’t care about what you are hiding!”
It helped. But it did not change the fact that she had not known anyone pregnant, ever. That bellies went big and round was common knowledge, but apart from that, she was utterly ignorant.
“Where can I watch pregnant women?” she asked Mo Yuan when he returned with a selection of fruits and nuts.
“Watch?” he said and frowned.
“To learn,” she explained, biting into a juicy loquat and wolfing it down. She really was hungry.
“I don’t think there is anything to watch,” he remarked and handed her more fruit. “We will need to find someone knowledgeable.”
“That woman from before… the Crown Princess,” Shao Wan said munching, “she knew things.”
Crown Princess…
“Is she your brother’s wife?” she asked because that made a lot of sense.
“Yes,” Mo Yuan admitted, “she is Bai Zhi’s fifth daughter.”
“You unlucky man,” she observed. “You could have ended up with a Fox Queen but instead, you are stuck with a Demon.”
“Shao Wan, I never…”
She shook her head at him. “You owe me nothing.”
“That is not true,” he said quietly.
She knew what kind of man he was. There had been a time in their youth she had tried hard not to form any expectations when it came to the two of them. More, she had tried to stay away from the strange pull he exerted on her, knowing well that certain alliances were frowned upon by too many to ever be auspicious. She hadn’t even needed his father’s words of warning to know it. She had convinced herself it wasn’t to be, no, shouldn’t be.
Maybe that was still true. But it was clear to her that he had a different opinion. He was a stubborn man, ready to defy Fate and the Laws of Nature when he believed he was doing the right thing. Husband…
“Are you satisfied?” he asked, making her realize she had eaten all the fruits and nuts he had brought for her.
“Never,” she smiled at him hungrily, because all that thinking about babies and husbands made her remember her dream again.
“There is a town not far from here,” he repeated, “we can spend the night there. But I’m thinking we should press on as early as we can. Even though they have not found our trail yet, I think we’re safer in the much larger town that is three to four days from here.”
“How do you know all this?” she wanted to know and got up clumsily. His hand shot forward to steady her. Better not get used to this, she thought.
“I’ve lived in this mortal world before,” he said.
She accepted this without questioning him further.
“There is a library there too,” he added.
She squinted at him. A library? Was he bored?
“Mo Yuan,” she said, remembering something else, “it has come to my attention that I am weaponless. Where is my Whip? I cannot feel it anywhere.”
There it was again. The stoney face. She had come to associate it with unpleasant topics and because of that, her heart contracted painfully.
“Oh no,” she whimpered. Her Demon Tongue. She remembered vividly how she had ventured out together with Fong Hung to find Celestial Lightning to forge her weapon. It had taken several lightning bolts until she had accomplished to transfer a part of her soul into it.
“Tell me honestly where it is,” she begged him, not wanting half-truths now.
“It is gone,” he said gravely.
She tried to remember such a horrible occurrence, but failed.
“Who took it from me,” she said, feeling tears rise in her throat. “I will crush his every bone, I will…”
“You sacrificed it. I… I was there to witness it.”
“Tell me…”
He did, though haltingly. He told her about a war between their Tribes, a seat of clouds in the skies she had sat on, her powers that had called a maelstrom. About the lightning hitting her whip, several times, until it exploded, its fire ridding the worlds of a dangerous poison.
“I did something so foolish?” she whispered, instinctively touching her belly.
“You saved the Realms,” he answered, “there was nothing foolish about your sacrifice.”
“I understand now,” she said. “This… why I am like this. I died, didn’t I. And now I’m missing parts of my soul.”
“That’s what I suspect too,” he nodded.
“There was a piece of it in my whip,” she confessed. I might never get it back.
Being incomplete like this… what fate was awaiting her? She had known a few Demon immortals who had gone utterly mad after losing parts of their soul. All locked in the Lost Devil Tower. Beyond salvation.
“I will help you,” he assured her. “Shao Wan, do not despair. We will make you a new weapon. All will be well.”
He said it like he wanted it to be true. She nodded, even though she knew wishful thinking from reality. He, make her a weapon? What would she do with a Celestial artifact, apart from burning her hands?
“We had to transfer your soul into your body,” he added. “It was inside another.”
Could it get any worse?
“And the babies?”
“You put their unborn spirits into an object of great power,” he said.
She laughed bitterly. Just this morning, she had asked herself how Father Immortal had been able to transfer an unborn spirit without being punished for it. Now, she knew there was no such thing as “not being punished”. She had committed a series of very grave sins, each of them going against the Natural Laws, each of them bad enough on their own. It made more and more sense now.
“You are here and that is all that matters,” he said stubbornly. Foolish, foolish man. Did he think he could save her from Fate’s retribution just by willing it “alright”? Did he not understand that her being here could only mean one thing: her punishment had not even begun. If he stayed close to her, he might likely be punished as well. Only… getting rid of him would be hard.
The mere thought drove the tears that had risen to the surface into her eyes. Stupid emotions. She had far too many of those lately. But she had cried in front of him before, a second time would not make it worse.
“Please don’t cry,” he said and moved close to hug her, “I will protect you.”
Why did that sound so right when she knew it to be utterly wrong? You cannot protect me! She wanted to shout at him, but instead, she hugged him back and sobbed waterfalls into his robe.
“We need to find your Feather,” he told her, “you should be able to call the missing pieces of your soul with it.”
That she had lost too? He stroked her hair until the embarrassing cryfest stopped.
“Better?” he asked and brushed away the tears from her cheeks with his thumb.
But nothing was better. She was someone who hadn’t known many fears in her life, but that had changed completely. She was afraid. Very much so. For him. And for her babies. For the things she loved and did not know how to protect.
Chapter 39