Fanfic: Mo Yuan and Shao Wan 2.0 - Chapter 54a (Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms 三生三世十里桃花)
Chapter 54a
written by kakashiedited by LigayaCroft & Panda
“Don’t touch anything!” Tian Gu whispered in alarm.
“Why? Do you think I’ll go up in flames?” Yu Dian whispered back.
But he did pull back his hand that had sneaked forward towards the exquisite books in Donghua Dijun’s shelf. As much as he longed to pull out and bury his nose in Poems of the Lost Summer, power suppression was brutal up here, by far the worst he had ever experienced. Yu Dian felt like he was being crushed by a mountain, just standing was a great struggle, let alone walking.
Maybe he would go up in flames if he touched such a rare book. The Heavens and everything in it sure felt hostile.
He dragged his body over to the low table and sat it down, grinding his teeth against the roaring pain in his head. Served him right for being too cocky, he thought... the Starlord Si Ming had suggested he waited for them in a lower realm, but he had insisted repeatedly it was not going to be a problem for him.
He had always wanted to see the Celestial seat of power, ever since he had heard about their enemy tribe for the first time. Now that he was here, he understood why Demons never went to the Thirty Six Heavens. It certainly wasn’t only because they detested the Heavenly Tribe, but powers up here were obviously configured to kill lesser Demons on the spot.
Tian Gu came over after him, throwing him a worried look.
“You look terrible,” she said, “should I call for help?”
“No, call for tea,” he ground out. As much as he thought being the suffering poet would put him in her good graces, he’d rather get there in a different way and especially elsewhere.
The sound of timid footsteps and soft rustling of fabric made him turn his aching head around. Five maids had arrived, all dressed in pink tulle, their silver-adorned hair flowing down their backs like black silk brocade. The cuts of their dresses were extremely proper, not a fēn of superfluous skin was visible, but even so, it was unmistakable how well-proportioned their bodies and how naturally beautiful their only lightly painted faces were. It was almost as if they were floating, so light were their steps, and almost as if they were glowing with an inner light, so luminous was their skin. Their eyes were cast down modestly, so he stared unabashed and in rapt wonderment to his heart’s content.
When one of them turned large, beautiful eyes on him furtively, he said “boooo!” on impulse and then had to laugh when all five flinched in unison and the curious, brave one blushed crimson red in the most adorable way.
“Please do not behave like this,” Tian Gu scolded him under her breath, just as she bowed her head in thanks at the tea and the sweets that were put on the table. Two of the ethereal creatures kneeled down next to them, pouring tea into tiny cups from filigrane teapots. Yu Dian inhaled deeply. These women smelled a bit like wild roses. He wouldn’t mind finding out whether that applied to all parts of their bodies.
He realized that the maid from before was the one now kneeling near him. When he turned his head in her direction, she shot him another smoldering look. He answered with a friendly smile. Friendly and clearly interested.
Any Demon woman would immediately have reacted with her own advances, especially after initiating it in the first place, but apparently, these Celestial women just changed color and looked terribly embarrassed. Yu Dian shook his head in confusion. He would have to ask Si Ming when they met up again later what the customs were up here. All he had ever heard said was how horrible Celestials were, so he really knew very little about them - he just knew that this tiny beauty making eyes at him most certainly wasn’t horrible.
Catching a disapproving stare from Tian Gu from across the table, he lifted his eyebrows. “Is something the matter, Princess,” he asked sweetly and gingerly lifted the tiny teacup to his lips, fearing it would break at his mere touch.
“We are not here to cause trouble,” she said sternly with a side glance at the maid, almost sounding as dull as her Teacher, “we are just here to receive necessary information and then we will leave again immediately.”
“I do hope not!” a familiar voice said behind them, “you have to at least come to my Palace for a feast! A Demon visitor in the Thirty-Six Heavens! I do not believe this, how did you even get in, Yu Dian?”
In delight, Yu Dian sprang up to greet his friend… and staggered on wobbly, weakened legs, flailing helplessly in an attempt to grasp something to prevent his fall. He saw how Tian Gu sprang up to help him, but she was going to be too late, the carpeted floor was already drawing closer to his head. Fast.
Losing face like this... what a disgrace to the Demon Tribe, he thought ruefully, just when a tiny pink shadow darted forward and underneath his arm, offering her entire body as support. He accepted gladly, trying to shift his weight away from her so that he would not by accident squash and kill her, but as soon as their bodies connected, there was a blindingly bright discharge of adverse powers, shaking him to the core, and he howled in pain at the piercing agony just as the maid whimpered and fainted on the spot.
I want to leave, Yu Dian thought, now finding himself lying on the floor after all, halfway on top of his adorable savior, I want nothing more to do with Celestials.
“You haven’t promised too much,” a female voice said and a shadow moved over him, “he is most extraordinarily handsome.”
Yu Dian tried to focus his eyes to see who had spoken, but something was not as it should be, he could only see a whirlwind of colors.
“Yu Dian, my friend, let me help you up,” Lian Song said and kneeled down next to him to offer a helping hand. But when the Third Prince touched him, there was another discharge of power, though not as violent and not as painful. Still, Yu Dian couldn’t help but yelp again.
“Hm, methinks my nephew did not only put up defenses at the perimeter,” Lian Song chuckled, “see how afraid we are of you Demons?”
This only seemed mildly amusing to Yu Dian, but Lian Song murmured something under his breath and the next moment, the weight on Yu Dian lifted a little and his vision returned to normal. Tian Gu stood to the side, her face pale and her eyes wide, an unknown woman in a floral dress near her, looking at him curiously.
“It’s still better you do not touch anyone up here,” Lian Song advised with a smile and got back up, “but my counterspell should give you some reprieve.”
“How is…,” Yu Dian sat up, turning his head to look for his helper, finding her sprawled right behind him. She was breathing, he saw with relief, pulling back the hand that had wanted to touch her face.
“She’ll be fine in no time,” Lian Song assured him, “the other maids have already run to fetch a doctor who’ll give her an elixir. But come! What are you doing in boring Taichen Palace when you could have come to see me!”
“We are waiting for the Starlord Si Ming to return,” Tian Gu said with a bow. “He is the one who let us in.”
“Oh?” Lian Song exclaimed. “And where is your Shifu?”
“Taking care of important business,” Tian Gu answered a bit defensively, “together with Crown Prince Ye Hua who will be back shortly too.”
“I see,” Lian Song said, narrowing his eyes a little. “And they thought it’s amusing to send a Demon to the Heavens even though there are Demon wards all over the place?”
“He insisted on coming,” Tian Gu said sullenly, with a shake of her head in Yu Dian’s direction. “Everybody told him to wait outside.”
Thanks for the support, you traitor, Yu Dian thought bitterly as he brushed some dust from his clothes.
“You certainly started a wildfire of gossip as soon as you entered,” Lian Song said to him, “we will need to find you a bodyguard for as long as you are here.”
“They wouldn’t dare touch him!” Tian Gu bristled.
“They? You mean the guards? They wouldn’t. But I was talking about the women, dear,” Liang Song smiled, “but I am guessing you are too innocent to understand what a Demon like him threatens to do to Celestial propriety.”
As if it was her cue, the woman next to Tian Gu stepped forward and pulled at Lian Song’s sleeve. She was wearing an interesting necklace that did not seem to fit into the elegance of the Heavens, Yu Dian noticed, but it clearly was an object of power.
“Yes?” Lian Song asked with a frown.
“You must introduce me,” she whispered into his ear, standing on tiptoes.
“Ah,” Lian Song nodded, “yes. This, my friend, is my… my…”
“I’m his wife!” the woman declared with enthusiasm, earning her raised eyebrows and a flustered look from the Third Prince.
“... my wife, Cheng Yu,” Lian Song finished the sentence breathlessly. “This, my dear, is the Green Demon Lord Yu Dian, the author of the Tirades of Solitude I have told you about.”
“I am delighted!” Cheng Yu smiled broadly and curtsied.
“Oh,” Yu Dian said and bowed deeply, “I am honored to meet you, Lady. The Third Prince has told me a lot about you.” Though not about the wife part.
“He does like to talk,” the woman named Cheng Yu nodded, “talk and talk and do very little.”
“Ah, you are a harsh judge,” Yu Dian laughed with a side glance at his friend’s furrowed brow, “but that’s probably why we instantly befriended each other. I am the same.”
“And I am Tian Gu, Princess of the Horse Tribe, currently the only Disciple of the High God Mo Yuan,” Tian Gu stepped forward to introduce herself, probably offended because Lian Song had paid her no heed, “Lady Cheng Yu, I see you are wearing a necklace made by the Turtle Tribe. Am I right to assume you know where I can find them? I long to greet my friends!”
“Oh!” Cheng Yu turned to her excitedly, “your friends you say? Yes! Yes, I know where to find them even though they won’t let me in. I can certainly show you... but…” she turned back to Yu Dian, looking conflicted as her eyes moved over his body.
“You cannot touch him, but you may well be able to touch another necklace today,” Lian Song helped her, “just go with the Disciple, woman, may it finally put an end to your endless complaints about how you want to become acquainted with the Turtle Clan.”
“... if you ask the Demon Lord about how to buy property in his realm,” Cheng Yu said, “remember we discussed it? I want to go explore the entire Demon Realm as soon as we can. And I prefer not to sleep in beds not my own.”
“She has no manners, please excuse her,” Lian Song said, but smiled at his woman fondly. “Buying property… what a strange idea.”
They parted ways with the women in front of Taichen Palace and soon, Yu Dian had almost forgotten his woes as he walked alongside his friend in the balmy air, chatting about books and art, listening to eloquent and funny stories about the landmarks in the Heavens, talking about what had happened since they had parted ways.
“... and you were sent up here because….?” Lian Song asked at one point.
“I am to…,” Yu Dian started to answer, but he caught himself in time. “... forgive me,” he said with a sigh upon remembering the Crown Prince’s warning, “I am bound to secrecy.”
“Ah,” Lian Song nodded, “he likes to be secretive, our God of War. And you must do his bidding because…”
“He saved my life,” Yu Dian said, “in the mortal realm, when the Celestial traitor almost beat me and that Demon Guard to a pulp. He asked me to pay back my debt.”
And I am trying to make sure he doesn’t rip my head off since I haven’t been able to give him the Mirror of Souls, he added in his head. But I cannot go ask my sister about it. She hates me after what happened in the Caves and I really do not know... how I will ever resolve this issue between us.
“I see,” Lian Song said with a sideway glance. “And Si Ming, a Starlord, is finding information on… someone in the mortal realm, naturally? Someone you need to find, I’m guessing.”
There was no need to break a promise when one had smart friends. Rather than lying about it, Yu Dian nodded, though he was unsure how the Third Prince had been able to guess so accurately.
“Do you know who that someone is?”
“I do not,” Yu Dian admitted, “at least not yet.”
“Will you take the Horse Tribe Princess with you?” Lian Song asked.
“Hm…. I’d rather not,” Yu Dian said with a rueful smile. “It tends to get a bit awkward between us at times. But I think I will have to, since these were the instructions. I do not dare defy the God of War.”
“No luck there, I see,” Lian Song nodded. “She must be blind.”
“I am not a lucky man,” Yu Dian said with a sigh, “I never was, neither in life nor in love. Truth be told, all I want is go back to the Demon Realm and ask to serve the Demon Ancestor with my life. To think she’s probably back in her Palace by now and I am up here! But tell me… you made a face like you know who that woman I am tasked to find in the mortal realm just now?”
“I do,” Lian Song said. “She is a precious though wayward daughter of an important Celestial Lord. She also happens to be the ex-bride of the God of War. Be careful, my friend, be very careful. The God of War may be collecting his debt in order to pay back his own, but he never does anything without a larger plan. And as I myself had to find out - he has no qualms at all to use people to get what he wants.”
***
Finding out about the whereabouts of immortals who lived in the mortal world voluntarily and were not sent there on a trial was tedious business. A bleary-eyed Si Ming finally rejoined them after they had spent several days in leisurely pleasure at Lian Song’s Palace. Apparently, he and hundreds of his Starlord collaborators had had to look for hints in the thousands upon thousands of records the Starlords kept about the fates of mortals and the trials of immortals.
“Traces,” he had told them, “when one life touches another, there are always traces.”
The runaway immortal’s name was Jie Jing (洁晶), Yu Dian had learned, and she was described to him as delicate beauty, with white, almost translucent skin, a small face with high cheekbones, a straight nose, small mouth and willful chin.
Since that description was somewhat imprecise, or might apply to many women, the Starlord had also given him a glass jar that was charmed to glow when she was near. A special Starlord device, apparently, since it happened from time to time that immortals needed to be fetched back to the immortal realms.
“There is a piece of something she owned in there,” the Starlord had explained, stifling a yawn. “I think it’s a handkerchief.”
Yu Dian and Tian Gu were close to the town she had last been seen in and he lifted the jar in front of his eyes from time to time to check for an indication that she was still here.
“Maybe it’s broken,” Tian Gu observed gloomily, “and we’ll never find her.”
The Horse Princess was not in a particularly good mood and had been making similarly pessimistic statements for a while, Yu Dian wasn’t sure when during their sojourn in the Heavens it had started exactly. Was it possible she was missing her lover? He wondered about it, but did not feel like broaching that subject to her. His mind had been able to accept she would never be his, but his body… it was a different story.
Ever since setting eyes on the beauty of female Celestials, his body was reminding him frequently that it had been very long since he had shared a bed with a woman. In fact, it had become a major distraction around Tian Gu. She smelled… intoxicating. The sway of her hips… maddening. The soft curve of her breasts underneath the leather tunic… he wanted to free them of their confines, he wanted to knead them, lick them, suck them.
By the Gods…
There should be a brothel in town, he pondered, briefly clamping his eyes shut, that should do the trick.
And indeed, they had not walked more than fifteen minutes after passing the city gates when a house with red lanterns appeared to their left.
Yu Dian stopped.
“What is it?” Tian Gu asked moodily.
“I…,” Yu Dian cleared his throat. “I need to…”
Did he really have to explain a man’s urges to her?
But only when two excited courtesans stepped outside to invite him in did it dawn on Tian Gu what kind of establishment they were standing in front of.
“You…!” she exclaimed, her face emptying itself of color, “you…”, two red blotches appeared on her cheeks, “you…”
Her beauty at that moment only made him more resolved to part ways with her as fast as possible.
“Ladies,” he addressed the courtesans, not even looking in the Princess’ direction anymore, “is there a good inn in town?”
He was told a name and so he told Tian Gu to wait for him there. She looked at him like she was ready to ram a knife into his throat right then and there, but she turned on her heel without another word and stomped away angrily.
Determined not to let her strange behavior trouble him, Yu Dian linked arms with the courtesans and entered the House of Huanle with some joyous expectation. As soon as he was fully inside, another flock of girls swarmed around him, all trying to get his attention. He let his gaze travel over them, smiling at their excitement and eagerness, yet finding them… somewhat lacking.
My eyes have been spoilt by grand beauty, he thought remorsefully, I can no longer appreciate its variety.
“My Lord,” the owner of the establishment addressed him, her eyes judging him as rich expertly by the clothes he was wearing, “what entertainment are you seeking today?”
“Your most delicate beauty,” Yu Dian said, “someone who treads lightly, whose skin glows luminously, someone who has eyes to drown in. I want her to be shy, yet brave. I want her to serve me fully, yet dominate me completely.”
Some of the girls giggled, while others urged him to speak more poetic words such as these.
“I do have someone like this,” the Madame said rather unexpectedly, “but she is expensive. Very expensive. She normally only serves this town’s noblemen.”
“Money is not the issue,” Yu Dian declared after she had named an exorbitant price for one night to be paid upfront and before even seeing the woman. “If she is what you claim, I will pay you double the sum you just asked for.”
Of course, he did not expect this mystery woman to be what he longed for with an intensity that was almost painful, but now that he was here and had paid a fortune, he would certainly not walk away.
The Madame led him up a flight of stairs, soon leaving the disappointed girls’ muttering behind them, down a corridor and into a spacious room with musical instruments, food, wine, and a large bed. She promised that “Chun Ying”, as the woman was called, would join him soon with a smile and a bow and closed the doors discreetly.
Yu Dian sat down at the low table and helped himself to a bit of fruit and a bit of wine. That made him hope Tian Gu had reached the inn safely and had bought herself something to eat and drink as well. He was a bit worried, he realized. And to just part with her like this… He would apologize to her, he decided, he should have explained… but how could he have…
Suddenly, he felt stupid for having so little self-control. He would never be able to measure up to the likes of High God Mo Yuan if he kept being a slave to his sexual desires. Worse, the Demon Tribe would never be able to stand shoulder to shoulder with Celestials if they kept letting their basic needs rule them. Why was it so hard?
He was brooding over these issues when the sliding door in front of him was opened and a woman stepped in. He looked up and…
It was as if his heart stopped for a moment before it started racing.
“You are a Demon?” she whispered in great surprise.
“You are a Celestial?” he said hoarsely.
A delicate beauty, with white, almost translucent skin, a small face with high cheekbones, a straight nose, small mouth and willful chin.
He did not even have to pull out the glass jar from his pocket to see it glow to know who she was.
Chapter 54b