Fanfiction: Mo Yuan and Shao Wan - Chapter 51 (Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms 三生三世十里桃花)


Chapter 51

written by kakashi
edited by Panda & MiniOrchid

“Here?”

“A bit more to the left if you please…ohhh…….yessss…. ahhhhhh…”

The moaning increased in pace and volume as fingers moved fast and faster, lips nibbled more and more demanding, and an unrelenting tongue flicked back and forth at ever greater speed, making the sweet juices of womanly pleasure saturate the air with the smell of passion. But even when a shuddering loud climax was reached, the fingers, lips and tongue didn’t stop.

At this point, Shao Wan finally lost her patience.

“Are you still pretending you don’t know I’m here?” she yelled angrily from the couch at the window.

The Purple Queen Yi Mei Niang lifted her face from between the legs of her lover and looked over to her. “I was indeed waiting for you to make your presence, or rather you intentions known, Ancestor,” she agreed, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. “But mainly, I was trying to distract myself. I’m seething with anger over my security who failed me so thoroughly."

“If you treat all of them like this one, then I’m not surprised they are not particularly focused on their duties,” Shao Wan commented drily and waited for Yi Mei Niang to cover her nakedness with a dressing gown. The Purple Queen took her time. Then, she dismissed the raven-haired beauty in her bed with a sensual kiss and a smack on the bottom and watched her saunter out of the room, hips swaying seductively.

“Ancestor,” she said, flipping her many braids out of the way and leaning back on her bed. “I see you have finally left Mount Kunlun. Welcome back. What an honor to have you come straight to my bedchamber.”

“I am not here to be your guest,” Shao Wan said, leaning forward, “I am going to take back my Obsidian Palace today.”

Yi Mei Niang scrutinized her from head to toe, her eyes lingering on Fong Hung in the blue bubble on her back. Shao Wan felt great annoyance at the lack of respect and angrily furrowed her brow in warning.

The Purple Queen quickly inclined her head in a submissive manner. “My apologies, Ancestor. But people talk.”

“I am here to ask for a dozen of the best bodyguards. And I mean the best. As soon as I have all my possessions back, I will remunerate you adequately.”

Yi Mei Niang, one of the cleverest business women in the Demon Realm, nodded slowly. “I can sell you bodyguards, yes. Female ones?”

Shao Wan shook her head. “I need male ones. Make sure they are very good looking.”

Yi Mei Niang’s eyebrows shot up.“Oh? It will take me a moment to find what you need. And they will be expensive.”

Shao Wan shrugged, then nodded.

The Purple Queen smiled. “Demon Ancestor, can I invite you for some early afternoon tea and snacks in my guest room while we wait for the goods to arrive?”

Shao Wan nodded gracefully in acceptance, even though she did not feel particularly inclined to talk to anyone right now. Demons loved to gossip and of course, the return of Shao Wan, the abducted Demon Queen, was soon going to top the list of conversation topics.

After the Purple Queen had dressed properly in a light green silk gown with the help of her maids and whispered some instructions into the ear of a female advisor, she led Shao Wan to a sunny room with a stunning view of a lush garden. Giant blue butterflies danced in the sunshine around the white and gold pagoda and dragonflies flitted playfully across the large pond with its dark red lotus flowers. Shao Wan deeply inhaled the heavy moist air...the scent of the vegetation in the Demon Realm was so vastly different from Mount Kunlun.

“Phoenix fire sage,” she said and smiled.

“Please feel free to take a tour of the garden later,” said Yi Mei Niang with a small bow, “there are many rare plants from all over the realms that I take great pride in. Some of them are for sale.”

She indicated for Shao Wan to sit down on some gold embroidered cushions and clapped her hands. Five almost identical looking maids brought in snacks, cold tea, and several small bottles.

“I have an exclusive liquor I share with my clients to seal a deal,” said the Purple Demon Queen politely, “I made it myself and am happy to gift you with a few bottles.”

Shao Wan slipped her arms out of the leather belts that tied Fong Hung to her back and carefully put the blue shimmering orb on the largest cushion in her vicinity. She peered in: her mount was still fast asleep.

Yi Mei Niang looked at Fong Hung again, a crevasse appearing between her eyebrows. “Did the God of War…?”

“This is Cheng Yin’s doing,” Shao Wan said, feeling a sting in her heart at the mention of Mo Yuan and bitter hate for the Yellow scum. “He tortured Fong Hung to death.”

The Purple Queen took this information in quietly, but her confusion did not seem to disappear. “So...Demon Ancestor, please forgive me for asking, but...can I assume you will fight on the side of the Heaven Clan?”

“No,” Shao Wan said with emphasis, “I have no debts and no ties to any Celestial. I will take back what is mine, all of it. Whoever stands in my way will yield or die.”

Yi Mei Niang mulled this over and then nodded slowly. “I understand. Me and the Blue Demon Lord thought about pledging our allegiance to the God of War. We believed…” her voice trailed off.

The Purple Queen was fishing for information, only Shao Wan wasn’t ready to talk about him. What should she have said? He fooled me, he made me believe someone like him could care for me, but in the end, he turned out to be just like the rest of them? How pathetic. She usually wasn’t a sore loser, she appreciated good enemies - this should be no different. He was the God of War, and he had one-upped her when she had naively believed she was the one making the tough decisions. That he had made her feel sorry for him for nothing was just proof that he was slyer than her.

“If you join him you will lose,” she said before her silence got too long, “the Celestials are divided by internal strife and their armies are nowhere near ready. But it will be my honor to face you on the battlefield, should you still decide to go against me.”

The two women sat in silence after this, first sipping rice-flavored green tea and then some of Yi Mei Niang’s savory liquor. It tasted like honey and smoke. It was the polar opposite of Mo Yuan’s gentle, complex wines, but once her palate adjusted back to Demon flavors, the crass sweetness would fit well with certain meat dishes she used to like. A Hwamei started singing enthusiastically not far from them on an eucalyptus tree. It was a welcome moment of peace for Shao Wan. She knew there would be not a single one after she left this place.

***

Cheng Yin waited for her at the black gates of the Obsidian Palace, with twenty massive Demon soldiers behind him. He was the epitome of a Demon Warlord, fierce, brutal and strong, black leather with a yellow wolf emblem at the breast hugging his muscular body (and showing a considerable bulk underneath the belt), luscious lips of a tantalizing red drawn into a broad grin, dark violet eyes shining like gems in his face, his black hair braided in a complicated warrior pattern on one side. His dazzling good looks had always masked just how thoroughly rotten he was underneath.

“My Queen,” Cheng Yin said and bowed deeply, his demon soldiers falling on their knees behind him with a thud of leather and metal.

She eyed his bent back and sneered. He knew her weaknesses too well. And her soft spots. And everything else.

“I am here to take back what is mine,” Shao Wan declared and opened up her sky-link. Energy flowed into her, making her hair move like poisonous snakes, ready to strike. It briefly took her breath away, but she had it under control.

Cheng Yin straightened his back and his whole face changed when he looked at her. “You are so powerful,” he whispered enraptured, “so beautiful.”

He made a step towards her, as if in a trance. “Stay back,” she barked and blasted him with a wave of energy. He staggered backward, but didn’t fall.

“It seems you have finally found your feather,” he said after straightening up again, “to command so much power! I told you the Celestial scum had it! Now you are whole. And the most powerful Goddess in all the realms.”

She watched him warily. He looked like a boy, excited to receive his first big present.

“Have you killed him for the sacrilege?” he asked excitedly.

“I tried to,” she answered curtly.

“Ah,” Cheng Yin said, “a shame. How was marriage? I imagine seducing a monk must be a particular thrill.”

“Marriage doesn’t suit me at all,” Shao Wan said with a toothy smile, “but the monk did not need much seducing.”

“My love-making has much improved,” Cheng Yin quickly replied, “if you only let me…”

Shao Wan laughed in his face, feeling thoroughly nauseous. “You know that I have come to kill you. You know there are a few things I need to pay you back for. Your charred and severed head upon my gates will serve as a warning to all the Demons who think about doubting me.”

She opened up her sky-link some more and drew more power into her arms. It became easier every time she did it and the feeling was simply exhilarating. Her body vibrated from joy as the power filled her every fiber and sang to the universe. Cheng Yin watched her in rapture.

“I have already moved out of your palace,” he said, quickly lifting his hands in a gesture of surrender, “nothing of mine remains. But I also have your whip. If you kill me, it will die as well.”

“A crying shame, but it is worth the sacrifice.”

You have to try harder, Cheng Yin. She drew more power into her arms, making the air hum and crackle around her.

“If you kill me, my armies will rise against you,” Cheng Yin said, his voice slightly raised and a tiny bit alarmed, “I gave very specific orders. If you want to win this war, you need me.”

The cunning bastard had read the situation well. Of course he had. She had expected nothing less.

“Don’t you see, I helped you!” he continued, “I saw the way he looked at you, how much he coveted to possess you. I made him get you, take you to Kunlun! Without me, you would not have found your feather!”

This gave her pause even though it shouldn’t have. Cheng Yin was twisted, he lied, he lied expertly with every sweet word and half-truth. He had ways to poison her very soul, incrementally. She lifted her arms again. If he did not have more to offer, she would end him.

“Shao Wan, I will pass command to you. They are yours. My armies - they are yours to command, all of them!” Cheng Yin cried, fell on his knees and kowtowed.

“Why?” she asked, slowly letting her arms sink. She only wished she could feel more anger. All she felt was bone-deep exhaustion and it hadn’t even begun.

“Because all I ever wanted was you,” Cheng Yin said, his voice muffled, “I want to be the Demon Overlord, together with you. It’s what I’ve always wanted.”

Shao Wan laughed bitterly. “Overlords together?”

When she had been Overlord before, she had sometimes thought about how comfortable it would be to have a companion by her side whom she could trust with her life, whom she could turn to for advice, whom she could share her fears and joys with...those had been rare, sentimental moments, born from weakness - but she had still cherished this naive dream, because it had always given her hope when she had needed it. Having him offer this now tainted and destroyed it forever.

“Maybe I will let you be a consort in my male harem,” she snapped, “depending on your future behavior. And now, begone! You may come for a visit tomorrow to discuss the handing over of command. Bring your Generals. I want each of them to swear an oath.”

She strode past him and his soldiers towards the gate then, her twelve bodyguards in tow. The soldiers scrambled up and saluted her, and then banged their swords against their shields, shouting: “The Queen has returned! The Queen has returned.”

This is completely overdone, Cheng Yin, did you think I would fall for such a cheesy display of servitude? she thought, and yet, it was very hard not to feel...flattered. She could not help a triumphant smile from curving her lips as she entered the looming blackness of the Obsidian Palace with a spring in her step and her head held high.

***

“My name is Mi Mai (蜜麦),” said the maid before her, head firmly pressed against the tiles of the red throne room, “and I am the head of maids in the palace. Demon Ancestor, my grandmother once served you in these very halls. It is my great honor to serve you too.”

Shao Wan indicated to the woman she should raise her head. The maid had a pleasant enough, open face, but she had no recollection of someone looking like her in the past. It was likely she was lying. Shao Wan was quite certain Yi Mei Niang’s bodyguards would not report to Cheng Yin, but the rest of the guards and servants all might. She would observe them quietly for a while and then make a decision on whom to keep and whom to dispose of.

“Demon Ancestor,” Mi Mai said, “would you like a bath? Everything is ready.”

Would she like a bath! What a question. Nobody on Kunlun ever took a bath, probably because ascetics thought warm water was too much of an indulgence. They’d rather stand underneath freezing cold waterfalls. The Ghost Princess had told her and the Demon Princess about some hot springs she had discovered halfway down the mountain, but before she had had a chance to show it to them, their little party had been over.

Shao Wan briefly wondered how the two princesses fared as her maids undressed her. Yan Zhi would have returned to the Ghost Realm by now. They, too, would be enemies in the future - thanks to the cleverness of the God of War who had indebted her to him by granting her and her daughter refuge. As for Li Ying...the Demon princess reminded Shao Wan so much of herself when she was young. Curious and adventurous, yet fierce enough to prosper in a world that crushed the weak. If Li Ying ever chose to return to the Demon Realm, Shao Wan would invite her to reside here at her Palace with her. She had never known she enjoyed teaching so much until she had taken her as her first disciple on Mount Kunlun.

Shao Wan sat in the large round tub of her emerald mosaic bath until her feet and hand were wrinkly and tried to clear her mind of thoughts. Would she be reminded of the Celestial every time she used a meditation technique from now on? It was like she could almost hear his deep, calm voice at her ear: “Concentrate, Shao Wan. Control your qi. Let me guide you.” How many times that had gone awry… it was true of course, seducing a monk was a particular thrill and she had been so proud every single time she had made him lose his composure. Ah, but those…those were not thoughts she had any use for anymore. She’d rather never meditate again.

The maids spent a good part of the afternoon scrubbing the skin of her body until it shone pink like the mountain tops at dawn, massaging her thoroughly with scented oils and then doing her hair, her face, and her nails on hands and feet. They seemed all quite shocked at the state of her appearance - rightfully so, but she had never even thought about beauty routines while in the presence of those Taoist monks. The braiding of her hair seemed to take much longer than back in the day and when she asked, Mi Mai explained that the fashion had changed and the patterns had become more complicated. Taking the hint, Shao Wan asked her to re-equip her wardrobe with gowns that fit the current fashion.

“It goes without saying that only the most expensive fabric is good enough and only the most skilled tailors in all the realms will get my favor,” she said.

Tomorrow, she would have to take stock of her assets and plan her expenses. Cheng Yin had not touched her valuables, it seemed, and there was gold in the treasure room, but Yi Mei Niang’s bodyguards were so pricey, that heap of gold would be greatly diminished after her payment to the Purple Queen.

“Should we dispose of your old clothes, Majesty?” Mi Mai asked.

“Yes, all of them,” Shao Wan said. “Except the one I wore when I came here today,” she added as an afterthought.

Before nightfall, she went and visited Fong Hung in the well-hidden tiny cave not far from the Palace. Tellingly, Cheng Yin had not asked about him, maybe because he thought he was dead - at least, that was what Shao Wan hoped he believed. In any case, she would not let him discover Fong Hung and use him against her again. Carefully, she put her hand into Mo Yuan’s shimmering cage to feed her mount Zhe Yan’s elixir with a golden spoon. The vial was two thirds empty already. Soon, she would have to get more of it - if Zhe Yan was still willing to help her after what had happened at Kunlun.

The Celestial energy stung her hand. She could have broken the orb with a bit of effort, but she had never before seen a protective bubble that was more fiercely...protective. Nothing could hurt Fong Hung as long as he was inside and indeed, the toad seemed to relish the comfort of his new home instead of considering it a prison. She patted her mount’s head and tickled him behind the ears before pulling her aching hand back and singing him a lullaby until his eyes closed again.

Upon the return to the palace and her chambers, she looked her bodyguards up and down. “You,” she said, pointing to the one with the best built and most pleasing face, “you will sleep in my bed tonight." To the others, she said: "The rest will guard my door and my windows. You must be extremely vigilant, you hear me? Not even a spider should escape your notice. You are expensive enough, so I do expect you to deliver.”

Dutifully, the bodyguard she had selected to stay began to undress. He was a bit shy and quite young despite his experience as a fighter. She noticed that his hands slightly shook. Maybe she would ask for his name, later, since people seemed to like it when she called them by their names.

“That’s enough,” she said before he could take off his breeches. “You sleep on this side of the bed. If you touch me without my order, you lose your hand - or worse.”

She drank warm wine until her head swam and she finally felt like she could find sleep - but she couldn’t. This was her bed, these were her chambers and this was her palace...but nothing about it felt familiar or comforting.

The next morning, the sun was barely up, Shao Wan cloud jumped to the highest peak in the Demon Realm. She found Mount Kunlun on the horizon quickly - it was hard to overlook a peak so majestic and towering. But as much as she strained her eyes, there was no golden shimmer.

Legends were legends and reality was reality. But she only had one direction to go and it was forward.

Chapter 52