Fanfic: Mo Yuan and Shao Wan 2.0 - Chapter 29 (Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms 三生三世十里桃花)


Chapter 29

written by kakashi (with ideas by Panda)
edited by Panda/LigayaCroft

“Be welcome, Nüwa’s son,” Ling Dao said, the slightly elevated pitch of her voice betraying only a tiny fraction of the full elation she felt at the sight of the weakened Golden Dragon struggling against the tightening bonds.

Yes! Yes! Yes! the blood roared in her head, I’ve succeeded, succeeded, succeeded! It was dizzying, fulfilling, a rush of such magnitude it beat any substance she had ever taken.

“Bind him more,” she ordered her acolytes who quickly swarmed around the large beast and started their incantations to throw more earth power around him. Too slow. “Faster! More!” she shouted at them, because Nüwa’s son was still much more powerful than them, even in this weakened state.

He had managed to kill a Crazed One. What a loss to the Cult! But now they had him. They had him!

What a magnificent Beast, she thought. It will be such a pleasure to kill him.

He looked exactly like his father had. The Golden Dragon flying above them, bringing lightning, thunder and rain with him… so beautiful, so deadly. A merciless punisher delivering retribution, killing thousands. There was not a day she did not remember Fuxi’s wrath. It have her reason.

Forcing her thoughts back to the presence, she surveilled the shimmering, suffering beast in front of her with slitted eyes. Had she thought of everything? She must have. This chance… this chance would only come once in a lifetime and she had prepared for it for so long.

If only you could be here, my love. We’ve succeeded! Nüwa will rise. She will finally walk the realms again!

“Cult Leader,” one of her first officers said, “the cage is ready.”

Ling Dao nodded. “Put him inside once he has shrunk sufficiently. You know what to do next.”

Her first officer nodded eagerly. “Force him to transform back into a human, but barely. Then take his blood.”

Ling Dao nodded again and then turned her head around, looking for someone. On cue, one of her servants came running on his short legs, followed more slowly by a smaller one on even shorter legs.

“Ah, Fong Hung,” she said with a smile, “I want you to ready the Glaze Vermillion Chamber within the hour.”

“Yes, Mistress,” the boy said and quickly scurried away. Ling Dao looked after him fondly. In all the millennia she had trained and tested young men, she had never met a more diligent, talented one. She would bargain with the Lady Shao Wan to keep him in her services once she got here.

Not long ago, Yu Fen had reported to her that the Demon Ancestor was caught in a weak, failing body, just like they had hoped it would happen. Fate was clearly favoring them: her in a weak body gave them the necessary leverage over the only woman who could become dangerous to them. The only option the Ancestor had was to seek the Jiàopài Huàn Zong out again. And she would have the perfect body for her.

“Where’s the Starlord?” she asked one of her acolytes.

“In his chambers,” the woman said, “he is quite badly injured. They exploded a Thunder Box in his face.”

“Lock him in,” Ling Dao ordered. “I don’t want him on the loose and messing with our plans. Wait… who exploded a Thunder Box?”

“Your daughter, Cult Leader,” the woman answered.

Ling Dao nodded slowly. Promising. She could not wait to test her child’s powers herself. From all she had heard, she was a raw diamond, waiting to be cut into a beautiful gem. And cut she would be: indeed a very sharp tool. The efforts it had cost Ling Dao to finally have a daughter… but now, it would all pay off.

***

~ 50’000 years ago

The moment Ling Dao’s eyes met the mysterious stranger’s dark gaze, she began burning with an inexplicable desire.

“Who is this man?” she asked her Wuwu, who had developed the annoying habit hovering at her arm constantly, as if she’d do something untoward if left alone for a moment.

Diushi Mogui Ta’s chief engineer,” Wuwu croaked. “He happened to be travelling through our Realm and met the King on his recent hunting trip. Stay away from him.”

Lost Devil Tower? Ling Dao’s interest was piqued. It was a famous prison for Demon Immortals who lost their sanity when their cultivation became imbalanced. Practitioners of the dark arts, breaking too many taboos in order to gain cultivation, not finding their way back from the edge. She had heard so much of the place, and of the man who had designed it. Might she be able to see it in her lifetime yet?

Slowly, she made her way over to where he was standing, smiling at people here and there, like a good hostess should. Guests were mingling leisurely on the open patio, enjoying the fragrant air of the Horse Plains, sipping the light wine the Horse King had made just for the occasion. Ling Dao’s countless sons, the smallest barely able to walk, were running around outside in the grass, entertaining other children - all of them making incessant, horrible sounds that made Ling Dao wish she had never opened her legs to any man.

Damn her first sister for dying too early.

As if alerted by her thoughts about their family, her father’s worried face appeared from the crowd. “My child,” he said with his rheumy voice, “it is good that I can finally see you.”

He was clearly unhappy, as always, and threw Wuwu a dark look. “Can I speak with you alone?”

Ling Dao had tried to avoid him all night, but the Demon Engineer had made her careless. She looked over to see whether he was still there… he was. Watching her.

A thrill went through her and her womanly parts began pulsating eagerly.

“Yes, father,” she nodded. Just make it quick, old man, she thought to herself as Wuwu shrank into the background.

“Ling Ling,” her father began when they had stepped a bit to the side, “I have heard rumors.”

She kept her head low in the most docile ways and smiled sweetly. “Rumors, father? About whom?”

“You,” he said darkly.

She feigned surprise and outrage. “Me, father? What would make people spread rumors about me? I live pent up in my husband’s palace, supporting him like any good wife would.”

Her father looked very doubtful. “Why does he not have a harem?”

“He says I am enough for him,” Ling Dao answered, trying to keep the disdain from her voice. It was true: The Horse King Tian Su was entirely focused on her, all day and half the night. He refused to get married to anyone else. Her sister’s fate, it had become hers on the day the sister had fallen off a horse and died. But who would have known Tian Su would fall in love with the second sister so fully and deeply? He was not a bad man. But he was a man she had no interest in at all. A sturdy, practical raiser of horses, with no talents other than Beasts, hunting and making men follow him loyally.

“They say you are using dark magic against him,” it broke out of her father.

Ling Dao lifted her eyebrows in amusement. “Father! And you would believe such slander?”

The only magic she did waste on that man was to finally make him beget her a daughter, but even after getting Wuwu to make her special concoctions on top of that, all that Brute of a Man was able to plant into her wombs were sons, more sons, and even more sons. She dutifully rode his swollen stick every night, artless, yet efficient lovemaking, making him spill his seed as quickly as possible. What an effort on her part. She hated his sweating, his grunting, the clumsy kneading of her breasts, his touch at her womanly parts, never quite on the mark. But her attention was enough to make the fool fall in love with her so deeply, he thought of nothing but her, wanting to endlessly please her with gifts and entertainment.

“No, Ling Ling,” her father said, now almost sobbing, “but why would they say it?”

Well, she knew why. Because she was mingling with Demon Tribe members more than with the Horse Tribe Clan. Because she invited every single practitioner of the dark arts into their mansion. Because she practiced diligently in the dungeons what she learned from them. Because servants talked and she had enemies.

“You mustn’t worry, Father,” she said and gently patted her father’s old hand, “Tian Su will protect me.”

“Is he treating you well, my child,” the elder man asked. There was guilt in his voice. And guilty he should feel indeed, Ling Dao thought. As his second daughter, she had grown up as a free spirit, under the illusion that her first sister would be the one to carry all the burdens: marry a second rate king, befitting their own status as Horse Tribe Nobles.

Her Father had even promised her. “Ling Ling,” he had said, “when you are old enough, you can travel the realms like you’ve always wished.”

“Can I go see the Heavens?” she had shouted, so very excited. She had read all the books there were to read around her about the other tribes and especially about the Celestials.

“If you must,” her Father had frowned. Celestials… they were their allies now, but had not always been. A wise yet cowardly choice by one of their Leaders, now long dead. Be Celestial, not Demon. Be with Fuxi, not his wife. Be safe, not dead.

She had never been able to see the Heavens. Her sister had died unexpectedly and a new bride had been needed to uphold the marriage promise.

“Do you not get an invitation to his parties for me every time, Father?” she laughed merrily. “He is making sure I cannot get bored. Do not worry. He is a very doting husband.”

Her father nodded, happy to be convinced things were going well. Ling Dao craned her neck to look for the Demon Magician again. He was gone. Swallowing down a foul curse, she smiled at her father and excused herself politely.

Where had he gone?

She walked aimlessly through the crowd, feeling quite bereft. Angry tears were starting to gather in her eyes, when suddenly, a hand shot out behind a curtain and pulled her in.

“Are you looking for me?” the Demon asked. His eyes… his eyes were hypnotizing. She felt her knees go weak.

“Yes,” she said.

“You have found me,” he replied and bent down a little, as if to get a good whiff of her scent. “Extraordinary,” he breathed.

She knew, she simply had to bed him. As quickly as possible. Carnal lust surged within her so strongly, she could barely contain her shivering.

“W..walk with me in the gardens?” she stammered.

He nodded with a smile, taking her arm and they walked outside, into the falling night. Gardens in this region contained little more than scrubby bushes, but some of them carried blossoms with an intoxicating quality. One of them was in full bloom, the heavy, arousing scent wafting around them like smoke.

“I have heard about you,” he told her quietly. “You entertained one of my acquaintances not long ago. He would not stop talking about how talented you are.”

She felt lightheaded and heard herself giggle.

“He forgot to tell me how beautiful you are,” he added a little breathlessly.

“Can you… can I see… the Tower?” she pressed out.

He laughed quietly. “Ah. It is forbidden to go there. And very dangerous. The Crazed Ones are drawn to power and accidents are bound to happen. When the Demon Ancestor visited before her death, it took me three full weeks to calm them down again.”

“You have met the Demon Ancestor,” Ling Dao breathed full of awe.

“Of course,” he smiled. “But she didn’t like me much.”

They walked slowly on the gravel path, away from the mansion.

“I have been looking for a woman with your sort of talents,” he said after a while.

“Talents?”

“Your powers. There is a place… it is very far away, at the border of the known world. When I went there, I lost all my powers like they had been stripped off me at once. I believe…” his voice trailed off.

Ling Dao quivered from excitement. “Where the earth bleeds power?” It was in the legends. She had always wanted to believe it was true.

He stood still and looked at her for a while, his eyes burning with a passion she had never seen on anyone before.

“Yes,” he whispered. “That place.”

There were prophecies, but talking about them was punishable by death. Fuxi’s laws. The Father, the Punisher. The old ones said he had killed his own wife, his sister. He was jealous of her creation. When they had risen up against him, he had killed them all.

But she remembered. Given her age, it had to be the memories of a previous incarnation, but remember she did: The Dragon flying over the lands, killing them all. Wuwu remembered too. Sometimes, the old woman sobbed in her sleep.

“I want to show you its secrets,” he whispered into her ear. His closeness made her catch her breath. And then, he daringly touched his lips to hers.

Hunger. Hunger that she had not known she had engulfed her. She opened herself up wide, instantly ready for the taking, body and soul. It was a passion so strong it threatened to rob her off her senses. Her knees buckled, but he held her tightly.

“Come,” she said and led him back to the house, to her chambers, her bed.

“Have me,” she said and dropped her clothes.

He was like a summer storm - frightening, powerful, cathartic. His touch lit a fire in her that would never go out again. And finally she knew why she had been born.

***

“Blasted rain,” Yue murmured and shook himself, splattering raindrops everywhere.

“Yes, it’s very annoying,” Tian Gu quickly said, eager to start a conversation, but he turned his face away and rode a little faster.

Angrily, she pressed her lips together. He was not speaking to her anymore and that bugged her. She was guessing it must have something to do with her letting Yu Dian into her room that night, but she could not confirm it, because Yue avoided her like a mortal plague.

This journey was utterly miserable and not only because it rained day and night. Nobody talked to Tian Gu. Yu Dian rode with his sister and her party. The Lady Shao Wan was protected by a wall of turtles not letting anybody near her. And Yue… blasted Yue was the worst. How could he be so nice one day and then so nasty the next!

She wanted to talk to somebody, needed to. That she was going to see her mother again filled Tian Gu with very mixed feelings and she wanted somebody to listen to her. Losing her at a young age had changed Tian Gu’s life dramatically. Getting word from her that she was alive and waiting for her not so long ago had changed it again.

Tian Gu did not know what to do with her anger towards that woman. How could she have faked her own death? How could she have broken her husband’s heart? How was it possible she was now the Leader of a deadly Cult doing very forbidden things? A woman who was after “Nüwa’s son”, her beloved Shifu? And why had she sent a messenger to her? Did she miss her?

One daughter, her Wuwu had chuckled once, it is all that’s needed. Tian Gu had not understood the meaning of this sentence and she still did not. But it now echoed in her head, as if it had significance.

She really did not even know her mother, Tian Gu thought. And even though her first reaction had been to laugh at Yu Dian’s report, she wasn’t so sure now that woman wouldn’t be able to sacrifice her own daughter. Her body! For the Demon Ancestor!

She tried to remember her mother’s feelings towards Demons, but of course she had no clue, she barely had any substantial memories of her.

Her discomfort continued when they rested - apparently the last rest before they would get to their destination, as a turtle child who passed by and saw her miserable face assured her. Since nobody kept her company, Tian Gu observed the coming and going of everybody. In particular, she wanted to know whether it was true that Shao Wan and that Yu Fen were plotting something together.

From where she had put her tent, she could not see Yu Fen’s section of the camp, so she made a detour around a little hill, as if she had to go relieve herself, and then planned to crawl up on the other side to peek over the dune.

But when she made her way around a bend in the path, she suddenly happened upon Yue’s Dai, who squealed loudly in fright at the sight of her.

“Oh, shush, fluffball,” she implored it, “it’s only me!”

The Dai sat there big-eyed and quivering, but luckily, it had seen her enough times from the height of the packhorse it sat on during their trip to know she was no danger and was no longer making any noise.

“Where’s your Father?” she asked it, swiveling her head from side to side. No annoying demon men around. Strange. “Are you hungry?” she asked it and offered it her hand.

The Dai sniffed her and then, its little tongue came out to lick her skin. Tian Gu giggled. “Ouch,” she then said. And, “okay, stop now.”

The Dai’s sucking was getting more and more painful and Tian Gu just wanted to push the feathery thing hard enough to make it go away when Yue came sliding down from the dune at high speed. His eyes widened at the sight of her but it was too late - she stood right where he had chosen his descent to end. He bumped into her with a grunt, toppling her over while at the same time throwing his arms around her protectively so that he could shield her from the worst of the impact.

He came to lie on top of her, all warm and solid. Tian Gu grinned at him. But he sprang up like she was too hot to touch and wanted to collect his Dai to hurry away.

“Wait right there, Demon Guard,” Tian Gu said and grabbed his arm.

He tried to disengage her hand, but she had guessed his next move and gripped him only harder. He parried. Soon, it was fists and feet and knees and elbows. He was stronger than her, but she was faster - both quite equally matched. They continued for a while, but Tian Gu soon got tired of this ridiculous game.

“Just listen!” she shouted after jumping out of range.

Yue hesitated, his broad chest rising and falling rapidly. Tian Gu felt rather shy all of a sudden. “I… we… I think you are mistaken about your assumption.”

Yue instantly looked like he was going to die from embarrassment, turning red all over, throwing furtive glances in all directions. But she had his attention at least.

“What kind of woman do you think I am?” she asked, taking heart.

He bit his lips in sullen silence, blushing even deeper.

“He fell asleep, alright?” she challenged him. His head on her lap, while she had gently stroked his lustrous hair, but she would not tell Yue about that detail. “Did you not see how exhausted he was? He warned me. He warned me that the Demon Ancestor and his sister are conspiring together and that my mother… my mother… she’s the Cult Leader.”

She would have expected a bigger reaction from him at this revelation, but he only furrowed his brow. He knew this? Why did everyone know everything and only she was constantly left in the dark?

“Wait… what were you just doing?” she asked him suspiciously. “Were you checking on the Demon Ancestor?”

“Yes,” he said gruffly, but it was a success. He was speaking to her again! “She is not conspiring with the Green Lady,” he continued. “I have been given instructions for what to do when we get to the Caves.”

“Oh,” Tian Gu said, feeling quite relieved and also excited. “Can I help?”

“My instructions are to inform you so that you can do the right thing,” he murmured.

“Oh,” Tian Gu said again. “Me?”

“Apparently, the powers of men are entirely suppressed there,” he explained, “unless you’ve been exposed to them for a long time.”

“Do they hold my Shifu captive?” she inquired.

Yue nodded. “They mean to kill him to resurrect Nüwa.”

“I don’t believe it!” Tian Gu yelled, “that is insane! Nüwa has long scattered, how would they be able to resurrect a scattered Deity?”

Yue shook his head. “I do not know this, I am not part of the Cult.”

Tian Gu shook her head in frustration. “They are all crazy,” she murmured. “What did we get ourselves into?”

“The God of War knew what he was doing,” Yue said, “he went there willingly to help Our Lady Shao Wan.”

Tian Gu pulled a face. Silly Shifu. A sudden pain in her hand made her cry out. It was the Dai, coming to feed again. “Hey, you need to feed your Dai more. It is basically attacking me!” she said with a grin.

“No. It’s because he likes you,” Yue said and blushed again. Tian Gu laughed and shook her head at him. Why was he constantly blushing like a virtuous maiden?

“What is it I need to do when we get to the Caves?” she then asked, more seriously.

“At the Ancestor’s command, you are to withdraw with her and wait for someone to join us.”

“Who?”

“I do not know.”

“And then?”

Quite unexpectedly, a grin appeared on Yue’s face and he put out his hand to fluff his Dai’s feathers.

“Her trusted Mount has been waiting all these years for her to return. And…” He paused, the grin getting wider.

“And?” Tian Gu fidgeted helplessly, dying of curiosity.

Yue stepped closer. He dropped his voice very low and whispered: “The plan is for you to free the God of War.”

“Of course!” Tian Gu replied breathlessly. “And?”

“So he can go get something for My Lady.”

“Get something? What? An army? A… sedan?”

Yue came even closer. “He hid it. Her Mount hid it!”

Tian Gu grabbed the Demon Guard by the shirt front. “Out with it already, you are killing me!”

“It never was burnt. He hid it. In the mortal realm. He hid her body in the mortal realm!”

Chapter 30