Fanfic: Mo Yuan and Shao Wan 2.0 - Chapter 62 (Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms 三生三世十里桃花)
Chapter 62
written by Kakashiedited by Panda & LigayaCroft
“Do you need help, Xīngān*?”
Lin Dao’s anxious sympathy made Qing Quan’s misery much, much worse.
“Just don't touch me again!” he retched. His stomach had long emptied out, and he only spat bitter stomach fluid into the shrubs on the side of the road. His head sent red-hot pulsating pain throughout his entire body so that even standing upright was a challenge. I will crush you! he wailed at the Celestial. But the God of War’s awareness was subdued and mute in the mind prison that Qing Quan had locked with heavy chains.
“I told you the timing was suspicious,” Lin Dao sounded hysterical. “What if he is able to read your mind? What if he is just using you?”
Qing Quan hated her in this moment, so much he wanted to throttle her. He had once been able to feel something akin to admiration for her because of her ruthless fierceness. When had she become this fearful, timid woman who only knew how to anticipate calamity?
“Suspicious?” he spat and used the sleeve of his robe to clean his mouth. “I told you this is a Taoist monk’s precaution to ensure he doesn't break his vows too easily!”
“But do you not think he…”
“Be quiet, woman!” Qing Quan yelled and winced, because yelling hurt. Why had she touched him to check his temperature when she knew what his attempt to couple with her the night before had caused? Stupid wench! But the Celestial monk was mistaken if he believed protecting his virtue with spells would work for more than a few days. Qing Quan would make sure to use the precious, pure body to defile as many things as possible, like the lowest animal in a daze of lust that would last for weeks.
The thought gave him a short moment of satisfaction, but he quickly had to lie down in the wagon next to the sleeping Crown Prince in the body of a mortal child again since his head spun so badly.
“Should we head back?” Lin Dao asked tearfully.
“Absolutely not!” Qing Quan barked at her. “I need to get to the Tower as soon as possible. I will make him regret all this!”
From the corner of his eyes, he saw Yu Fen’s smug satisfied face when she looked upon his misery. Her, he would defile first until she died screaming, he thought viciously. In his head, he envisioned the details of administering pain and humiliation to her, but since the Celestial’s body did not react with eagerness, it did nothing to reduce his misery.
Soon.
Soon, the Celestial’s powers would no longer be suppressed. Soon, he would have access to the Tower’s special equipment. Soon, he would be able to call all the lost pieces of his soul back. Soon, he would be whole again.
He would be perfection.
A God above all Gods. Not bound by time, not bound by space.
The first being to reach absolute immortality.
***
“I cannot believe there are Mr. Mo plays in this town!” Shao Wan exclaimed, lowering herself with considerable difficulty to have some tea and the delicious sweets the old servant made for them daily. She wasn’t quite sure how to feel about her discovery yet. Outraged? Honored? Both? She had been trying to make up her mind on the way back here, but was still oscillating from one to the other.
One thing she was certain to be outraged about though. “Did you see what they turned the heroine into? She is so weak and foolish! Running to Mr. Mo for protection when he has always been the one to need hers!”
“I think they’re afraid of strong women in the mortal world,” Bai Qian mused. Her ears still turned a bit red whenever Shao Wan talked about Mr. Mo. This was an improvement to two days ago when the Fox Woman had discovered who Wan Shao truly was. She had picked up Shao Wan’s most recent book manuscript from the table out of curiosity, had looked from scroll to Shao Wan and back with her eyes growing large as the moon… and had then left the room hastily, not to return to the house for several hours.
She was probably very impressed to be in the presence of the author of the Mr. Mo stories, Shao Wan smiled.
This way, Shao Wan had found out that people in the Heavens read Mr. Mo stories too. Though only in secret, because it was considered “unvirtuous” among Celestials, the Fox Woman confessed. Shao Wan liked that, unvirtuous was exactly what those books were supposed to be. She liked a little less that somebody in the Demon Realm was distributing her books throughout the immortal realms without her permission. She had a pretty good idea who it might be...
“Pah!” She frowned. “I will have to write some of my own plays and talk to that teahouse person who decides what to perform. I will…”
“How much longer do you mean to stay here, Demon Ancestor?” Bai Qian asked cautiously.
Shao Wan looked at her with a frown that turned into a pout. The Crown Princess wanted to go back? Weren’t they having a load of fun? The house that Mo Yuan had abandoned was a comfortable enough place to be in, and there was exciting food and good entertainment in this town.
“I thought you were enjoying yourself too,” She murmured, feeling a strong sense of disappointment.
“Oh!” Bai Qian exclaimed. “You cannot imagine! But…”
The Fox Woman threw a doubtful look at Shao Wan’s round belly.
“Ah,” Shao Wan said and nodded. That. “Don’t worry. They are not yet ready to come out. I told them about their father, that he’s too busy to be with us at the moment and they agreed to wait for him.”
The Fox Woman made a very doubtful face.
“Is that… not how it works?” Shao Wan guessed.
“Not… really,” the Fox Woman said, “at least not in my experience.”
“Oh,” Shao Wan said meekly. She was still so utterly clueless, but felt too embarrassed to ask questions, lest she made a fool of herself. “You think we should return soon? To make sure Zhe Yan is around?”
“Yes,” Bai Qian nodded. “Frankly, Demon Ancestor, it makes me a little anxious to be in the mortal realm with you in your condition. If Shifu knew...”
“I see,” Shao Wan said sadly, looking down at her huge roundness that made it impossible to sit close to the table.
She had been enjoying herself more than she ever had, she realized. The Fox Woman was an expert at how to play in the mortal realm, all thanks to her leaving Mo Yuan’s school without permission whenever possible. Yesterday for example, they had posed as fortune tellers. The Fox Woman had dressed up as a man and had called unsuspecting mortals into their little tent in the marketplace. Shao Wan, her face hidden by veils so she looked “mysterious”, had looked at their tongues, into their ears, had thrown some bones into the air and had predicted their fortunes in a heavily accented singsong. A bit of luck, a bit of misfortune, some illness, some happiness - a nice balance of things and a boost of confidence in the end. They had all left so happy!
Some mortals had insisted on paying them. Feeling a little bad about it, Shao Wan and Bai Qian had decided to give it all to the orphanage. That’s where the Crown Prince was, Yu Dian had told them, but every time Bai Qian went to have a look, the boy wasn’t there. The same had happened earlier today.
“Could it be Fate preventing me from seeing him?” the Fox mused, sipping tea very elegantly.
Shao Wan tried to copy the Crown Princess’ way of holding her cup, though she still did not understand what to do with her pinkie exactly.
Fate. After reading Mo Yuan’s Demon treaties on Demon customs, she had begun to wonder about the difference in how Demons viewed Fate in comparison to other tribes. Demons would never delegate responsibility to Fate like some Celestials did, seeing her machinations not as cause but as a consequence of one’s actions. Well, this went for highly cultivated Demons. The lower ones had no understanding of Fate whatsoever. It seemed to be a concept they only became aware of when they managed to overcome their dark and bloodthirsty nature.
“What good will it do to see him?” Shao Wan asked the other woman curiously. “Yu Dian and Jie Jing are looking after him. They’re both capable enough.”
Capable, unless Yu Dian’s infatuation became a distraction to both of them. So far, Jie Jing was resisting his considerable charms, but Shao Wan had seen her throw a furtive glance at him last night. A sleeveless shirt and very shapely arms were a great temptation after all.
“For my peace of mind,” the Crown Princess murmured and sighed.
Maybe this had to do with their past, Shao Wan guessed after studying the Fox Woman’s pained face for a while. She had heard stories during her time at Kunlun about the Crown Princess’ difficult mortal trial, though had never cared before. Wasn’t her first son born a half-mortal because of it? Some people said so.
“He will be fine. Or are you afraid your husband might fall for someone else?” she asked.
From Bai Qian’s nonplussed expression, she guessed she was right.
“Ah,” Shao Wan nodded, “even someone from the Fox Tribe has such doubts! Well, from what I know, these brothers are hard to get and impossible to lose. I wouldn’t worry too much!”
Bai Qian laughed helplessly and served herself to some more tea, upon which Shao Wan realized that she herself was full of worry too. To the rim.
“Ah, but I worry too,” she sighed. “Like a stupid woman from a false Mr. Mo play. Useless. Heavy, round, and utterly useless.”
“That feeling will pass!” Bai Qian assured her quickly. “Once your children are born, you will no longer be restricted by your size.”
Shao Wan nodded. She had so many questions. Was this the time to ask some of them?
“How do I… how are they… I… I know nothing, absolutely nothing about raising children!” she blurted out.
“Oh,” the Crown Princess frowned. “I didn’t either, neither the first nor the second time. It is both wonderful… and extremely scary. We will get you a good nanny, I will ask Nai Nai for recommendations. That’s half the problem gone.”
She had previously considered finding a mount, someone like Fong Hung to be her children’s companion. But what if she didn’t find one? They were hard to find. And what if the children began fighting over whom the mount would serve? She couldn’t get two at the same time, mounts were solitary and they would end up killing each other. A human sounded like the safer idea.
“The nanny will take care of them?”
Bai Qian nodded. “Yes.”
“So I am no longer needed?” Shao Wan asked. The thought appalled her. All this trouble just to give them to somebody else?
“No,” Bai Qian said, sounding strangely sad. “They will need you. If you want, you can breastfeed them yourself. In the Fox tribe, we consider this important so that the mother’s wisdom is passed on to the children.”
Shao Wan looked down at her heavy, hurting breasts. She had of course heard that human babies liked to suckle just like animals. She was ready for that. And she had loads of wisdom to pass on!
If…
“Fox Queen,” Shao Wan said, her voice quivering ever so lightly. “I need you to promise me something. You already helped me with the flask the last time and that is why I know I can trust you with another important task of the same magnitude. This time, I want you to lock me up - before the Madness overcomes me. In the deepest dungeons you can find, sealed behind the strongest shields you can make.”
“That Madness you speak of…”
“It’s what Demons suffer who overuse or misuse their powers.”
“And you…?”
“What I did to save my children and ensure that I could eventually return to them… it is not allowed. We Demons lose all reason and become a danger to everyone around us once our souls get tarnished like this.”
Shao Wan helped herself to another cookie. Ah, if only the sweetness could chase away the bitterness she felt when she let herself be reminded of what lay ahead.
“But you saved the realms,” Bai Qian said breathlessly. “We might all be dead without you.”
Shao Wan nodded sadly. “The Madness doesn’t know this and certainly doesn't care. Do you promise me, Fox Queen? If Mo Yuan doesn’t find a remedy…”
“But he most certainly will” Bai Qian said fervently. “I don’t need to promise, you know he will not rest until he succeeds. But I will do everything in my power to prevent anything bad happening to you, Demon Ancestor. To both of you.”
Shao Wan looked at the Fox Queen and despite the heavy sadness that had overcome her, she smiled. Bai Zhi’s daughter was a remarkable woman. Maybe they could become friends? She had never had any female friends. The wish felt strange… but good.
Maybe it wasn’t completely unreasonable what she had seen today on stage, Shao Wan thought. Was she not merely eating cookies and enjoying mortal entertainment when Mo Yuan was trying to save her all by himself? Of course, he needed her. Just like she needed him.
“I will return to the immortal realm tomorrow,” Shao Wan sighed. His scent was fading from all the things in this house anyway. “We still have ample time to get to the Demon Tower.”
Time to go and join Mr. Mo in his quest to save her. Maybe this time, they could save each other.
***
They brought the dragon before her at dusk. It was a magnificent beast, shimmering golden like the sun, bringing light into the darkness of her throne room, exuding power with every breath he took. The chains that held him were useless - the Queen knew they would not hold him back if he decided to lose his patience.
“We captured a Dragon for you, oh Queen!” her leader of guards shouted proudly, prodding the animal with his spear.
“Extraordinary,” the Queen remarked, not able to take her eyes off the shimmering scales of the beast before her. They were worth a fortune - a kingdom, a whole realm. If she got him to give them to her when he shed them…
“What luck!” her female advisor exclaimed, “just when you were about to run out of Dragon Blood!”
“I will share with you!” the Queen smiled at her and extended her hand to stroke her black, luscious hair. She was very fond of this woman. She thought they might even become friends in the future. They could get mindlessly drunk together and go on a rampage in the mortal world. She’d like that.
“Let’s put him in the dungeons for the time being,” she ordered. “We will bleed him as soon as the Engineer has calculated the cut angles and amount we need.”
The thought of hurting this treasure gave her discomfort, but without dragon blood, she would die.
“Please don't kill or torture me again,” the Dragon rumbled and shook his great head.
The Queen felt her heart skip a beat. The Dragon could speak?!
“Do not be alarmed,” the Beast said, “I will now transform.”
In a swirl of smoke, a man appeared, shaking himself so that all chains flew away. He looked strangely translucent and greyish, as if somebody had forgotten to apply colors to him.
Shao Wan squinted at him. Could he be a ghost? He held wooden figurines in his hands, two in one and one in the other.
“Do I know you, Dragon?” she asked cautiously. He was a very handsome man, though almost looking too pretty, like a rare flower, not like a warrior, with his fine, long fingers better suited to pluck a zither than holding weapons.
“You know me very well,” he said, with the tiniest smiles playing on his lips. There was some fluff around them, like he was attempting to look older that way.
“Are you a shapeshifter?” she asked suspiciously. Those she couldn’t tolerate. They made such a mess of her palace all the time!
“Not at all,” the man answered. “I have come here to talk to you, Shao Wan. I don’t know how much time we have, so please excuse me for being blunt.”
Shao Wan? The Queen frowned. Was that her name? Or was he trying to insult her?
“Look at me,” he ordered. “Do not look away. And whatever happens, do not torture me in your dungeons, do you hear me?”
His voice had a power she recognized, because hers had it too. The voice of a General. The voice of somebody so strong and powerful, they felt no fear. She nodded at the man. They were equals. Doing what he had said would not diminish who she was. She had no particular wish to torture him in her dungeons.
“Shao Wan,” the man said, stepping a little closer. “I have locked myself deep inside a mind chamber, giving Qing Quan full control over my body. Well… almost full control.”
A slightly smug expression took over his face. It made it look very familiar.
“I am certain he is heading to the Demon Tower as we speak. I have a good idea of what he means to do there because I read his mind while he was sitting in my brain. But I need you to do something for me once you see me. Will you help me?”
His words were very compelling, was he using magic?
“No torture,” he repeated. “I do not like the way you look at me right now.”
“I’m just a little hungry,” the Queen shrugged. “Yes, I will help you.”
He heaved a sigh of relief. “You’re like a little Demon kitten today,” he smiled. “By the Heavens, how I miss you.”
He made another step in her direction. She squinted at the figures in his hand. They looked like two children, a boy and a girl? And in the other hand… a woman. Looking familiar.
“You need to summon my sword,” the man urged her. “You are the only other person in this Creation who can apart from me. Because I give you the power. It’s name is Xuanyuan.”
He moved his hands and she felt a pleasant warmth spread in her belly. So he was using magic against her! How dare he! But she liked it. The warmth spread further down. She might invite him to her chambers if this continued much longer.
But… was the man shrinking? Or was she beginning to float? Shao Wan frowned down at him from the height of her throne.
“Are you leaving?” she asked puzzled.
“I’m still not good at this,” the man sighed, shrinking further before her eyes. “It is very hard… to… control…”
“Come here!” she said demandingly.
With difficulty, he climbed up the steps to her throne and held up his arms. She picked him up and cuddled him against herself, like a doll. He was light with not substance. A thought… a dream.
“Please stay,” she whispered, feeling an inexplicable longing.
But he was gone.
Dreams fade. Doesn’t everything?
***
“We are here, Xīngān,” Ling Dao whispered.
Qing Quan shot up. They were here! The air - so familiar! Ah, this felt like home. But the sight of the ruins where his Tower had once stood made his stomach contract painfully and for a moment, it felt like time glitched, leaving him strangely disoriented. He would not let the devastation despair him though! The true value of this construction lay deep down in the bowels of the earth, well guarded by a mountain of debris.
The Tower Engineer pushed himself up just as the Crown Prince child shot up too.
“Where are we?” the boy squealed. What idiocy, those trials Celestials had to go through! Their future ruler reduced to such powerlessness, pah!
“Your final destination,” the Tower Engineer snarled. The child stank and it made him nauseous. He signalled to some of the female soldiers to remove the boy and got up on shaking legs. Yet, he felt considerably better today.
“Guard the blood of the Dragon at all times,” he said, pointing at the large barrel on the wagon. “We will bleed the Crown Prince later.”
He was inhabiting a Celestial body for the time being, but since this was a High God’s body, he should be able to access the strong Demon powers that this place had to offer somehow. Looking down at the fine, long fingers - laughable… wasn’t this supposed to be a warrior? - he flexed them and tried out to draw power into them.
It was like an explosion racing into his hands, making them brim with power.
Qing Quan laughed and threw the power at one of the women, just for fun. She went down on her knees and spat blood. Qing Quan laughed even harder. Marvelous. This was much better than he had expected! The Celestial’s body seemed very well attuned to Demon Powers.
“Good,” he said, “very good. Ling Dao! Come here.”
She obeyed, looking fearful.
“Tell your soldiers to remove the debris,” he ordered. “There are stairs we need to access. Tell them to hurry or I’ll get angry.”
Not that he expected anyone to be able to intervene with his plan at this point in time. The Celestial Crown Prince was a weak mortal, soon to die from bleeding out. The God of War was fully possessed by him. The Demon Ancestor was on the brink of madness. He probably had ample time to go through with his plan… but after all these years, so many millennia, he felt a strange restlessness. He wanted to be done.
“Show me the mirror!” he barked at Ling Dao. The woman groped for the chain hanging around her neck, pulling it out of her robe.
There it was. The Demon Mirror of Souls. Looking small and inconspicuous like a crystal pendant. He had given it to this woman for safe-keeping a very long time ago and his hand shook from the need to touch it. But not yet.
“Did you keep it with you at all times like instructed?” he asked.
“Y… yes,” Ling Dao said.
Qing Quan frowned. She was lying.
“Who else had it?” He lifted his hand, a threat. It worked.
“Y… Yu Feng,” a blanching Ling Dao admitted hastily. “I was very sick for a while and gave it to her since it would not have gotten enough sustenance from me at that time.”
Not much damage done then, Qing Quan thought. They would both die anyway.
Chapter 63
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* Chinese expression of endearment, lit. Heart & liver, fig. darling