Ch 10:
Mo Yuan
Mo Yuan opened Seventeen’s door slightly and recognized the back of Ye Hua as he sat on the bed beside Seventeen. She was looking up at Ye Hua in fear. Seventeen was terrified. She was frozen, unable to blink or move as Mo Yuan watched Ye Hua slowly caress her breasts. Before Mo Yuan could say something to stop Ye Hua from moving further, Seventeen suddenly started gagging severely.
Mo Yuan opened her door completely, but before he could step into her room, Seventeen came flying into his arms. She was shaking like a leaf on a peach tree during a windstorm.
Seventeen, whom Mo Yuan had not seen cry since her return back to immortality, had tears running down her face as she whimpered, “Save me, Shifu. Please take me away from here.” She pleaded while attempting to bore herself into his body for safety.
Mo Yuan said nothing to Ye Hua who was looking at them first in confusion but then in anger. Mo Yuan was in an unfavorable position, as he needed to decide between his twin brother and Seventeen. Mo Yuan made his choice differently than usual; he allowed his heart to make his decision instead of his head and cloud jumped with Seventeen in his arms.
Seventeen continued to cry for hours back at Kunlun Mountain. Mo Yuan didn’t stop her since these were tears she’d bottled up inside her for three hundred years. She was still fastened to his body, terrified. Seventeen clung to Mo Yuan the way a scared infant would hold on to its mother.
Mo Yuan had become her place of refuge and safety.
Mo Yuan couldn’t hold back his tears watching his once brave and fearless disciple hanging onto him as if her life depended on it. He kissed the top of her head lightly as tears ran down his face. Mo Yuan asked nothing about Ye Hua or why she attended the banquet at the Eastern Sea. Mo Yuan waited until Seventeen stopped crying and pulled away from him, to ask her softly, “Seventeen, what would make you happy?”
She looked at him with her sad eyes swollen from crying and whispered, “I want to destroy him Shifu. I need to, or SuSu will never go away.”
“Seventeen, you’re hurting yourself. Haven’t you endured enough? You will be the one who suffers the most when you are through,” Mo Yuan replied.
“I can’t stop, or SuSu will never leave me alone,” Seventeen whispered.
Mo Yuan had underestimated the magnitude of the damage within Seventeen. The severity of her ordeal had caused her to become mentally distorted and delusional. She was self-inflicting pain and unable to end her cycle of self-torture. Mo Yuan held her face gently between his hands and said, “Vengeance is harmful to yourself and the one you’re inflicting it on. It will only hold you back instead of moving you forward. Wouldn’t it be more prudent for you and Ye Hua to separate peacefully instead of hurting each other more?”
Seventeen looked at him Mo Yuan unconvinced. Her gaze reflected the darkness in her mind. Seventeen slowly stood, looked at Mo Yuan and stated coldly, “I don’t expect you to help me but don’t get in my way either, Shifu. It’s only rightful and just to settle and collects the debts owed to me, and I’ve decided that time is now.”
Mo Yuan lightly touched her face and asked, “Would you stop for me? Would you detour from your current plan for my sake? Have you considered how much it pains me to watch you heading in a direction that could bring you more agony and heartache? If you were going to destroy yourself why did you work to save me for 70,000 years? So I could watch your demise?”
Seventeen looked at Mo Yuan with sadness in her eyes and replied, “That was before I became damaged beyond repair and unworthy of you. Thank you for offering me your heart, but I can’t use it. What is the point of having a beating heart when the rest of me is dead?”
Seventeen gave Mo Yuan a brief, longing look and said something he couldn’t hear before she cloud jumped and disappeared.
After Ye Hua’s departure to Qing Qiu, Mo Yuan was in seclusion when he finally realized what Seventeen had said — she had thanked him and told him goodbye.
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Ye Hua
Ye Hua’s intoxication vanished when he saw Qian Qian run into Mo Yuan’s arms. At first, he thought he had misunderstood her expression, but it was one of fear. Qian Qian was SuSu, and she couldn’t stand to be touched by him. She ran to Mo Yuan instead.
Qian Qian had purposely stayed in hiding and Mo Yuan, his twin brother, had kept it a secret from him. Ye Hua heard her beg Mo Yuan to take her away which meant Mo Yuan might know Qian Qian was SuSu. Had Mo Yuan known the truth for the entire past three hundred years?
What role did Mo Yuan play in Qian Qian’s life?
Ye Hua thought of the missed opportunities and chances he could have had to make Qian Qian understand his actions. She could have been back in the Hall of Beautiful Youth where she belonged with their son, A- Li. Instead, Mo Yuan had chosen to keep her for himself. Ye Hua considered Mo Yuan’s reason was that he was in love with Qian Qian. Ye Hua saw Mo Yuan’s expression when she ran into his arms. Mo Yuan’s gaze conveyed the look of a protective lover.
Had Mo Yuan been enjoying bodily pleasure with Qian Qian all this time while Ye Hua had been crying and yearning for her?
Yes, Qian Qian had been giving Mo Yuan her body. Just like she had been with Li Jing. Ye Hua shook his head in disbelief that all this time everyone had been touching his wife but himself. He thought about Mo Yuan being intimate with Qian Qian, and Ye Hua’s jealousy accelerated instantly. Ye Hua’s face radiated heat from his anger.
Ye Hua paced around the room with his hands on his head dumbfounded. He started to laugh and couldn’t stop himself. Ye Hua had finally lost his mind. He had believed his beloved, innocent wife was dead while she’d been sharing her body like the succubus that she’d become.
Ye Hua felt the sting of reality. Ye Hua had been in love with a non-existent ghost for the past three hundred years. SuSu had been a mere figment of his imagination, and Ye Hua had been the only one who considered their love to be eternal and pure.
Strangely, Ye Hua decided it failed to matter if he was the only one who believed their love to be everlasting. His youthful pride only reminded him of what he didn’t have, and that was his wife, SuSu, who was now Qian Qian.
They were still married after all.
Ye Hua determined that he would possess her body first. Qian Qian’s aversion to him a minor matter that would work itself out with time. Ye Hua resigned himself to indulge Qian Qian in whatever games she wanted to play regardless if they were ones of intimacy or mentality. Ye Hua would allow Qian Qian to amuse herself while claiming her sexually as he did before. Eventually, she would fall in love with him again, like she did when they first married. Ye Hua knew SuSu had not been in love with him from the start. She’d grown to love him after they began making love.
Ye Hua had been the one to make Qian Qian a woman, and so he had faith that he knew her body better than anyone else. If Ye Hua couldn’t have her heart back now, he would start with Qian Qian’s body since this was her fox nature. Ye Hua would physically take her and slowly earn back her love. Ye Hua knew Qian Qian wasn’t truthful. He knew for a fact nine-tailed foxes mated for life with a single partner for eternity.
Ye Hua went to Qing Qiu and discovered it had been sealed off by Bai Zhi, the Fox King himself. Now Ye Hua understood the Fox King’s hostile actions regarding Ye Hua’s once engagement to his daughter, Bai Qian, Queen of Qing Qiu. He had threatened Heavenly Lord and cut all ties with the Celestial Clan right after SuSu’s disappearance.
Ten Miles Of Peach Blossoms was not sealed, however, as both High Gods Bai Yi and Bai Zhen, Qian Qian’s powerful second and fourth brothers were playing chess. When they saw Ye Hua, they were unwelcoming and openly challenged him. The Fox Clan knew what had occurred during Qian Qian’s heavenly trial and they were not going to allow him anywhere near Qian Qian. Ye Hua didn’t have any other option but to go to Kunlun Mountain and talk to High God Mo Yuan himself.
Mo Yuan was surrounded by his disciples when Ye Hua appeared at Kunlun Mountain. The disciples politely bowed and greeted Ye Hua, but he noted their subtle hostility. Ye Hua saw Mo Yuan send his disciples away as Ye Hua approached Mo Yuan’s teaching platform. Ye Hua greeted High God Mo Yuan and knelt before him.
“High God Mo Yuan, I’m here to take my wife back to Celestial Heaven,” Ye Hua said in his soft tone.
Mo Yuan studied Ye Hua and replied, “Your mortal woman no longer exists in this world, Ye Hua. She disappeared when Bai Qian Queen of Qing Qiu, once my seventeenth disciple Si Yin, returned to the immortal realm. You should move on as well.”
Ye Hua failed to understand Mo Yuan’s explanation when he referred to Qian Qian as one of his disciples and wondered if it was a trick. Ye Hua stated confidently, “You only accept male disciples. It’s impossible for her to have ever been one of your disciples.”
Mo Yuan replied without hesitation, “Bai Qian was my seventeenth disciple, Si Yin. Bai Qian used high god Zhe Yan’s concealing spell, and I was the only one who knew she was a female. She studied under me for 20,000 years before my slumber. Bai Qian is the reason I was able to return. She fed me her heart’s blood for 70,000 years waiting for me to come back to her.”
Ye Hua’s eyes narrowed in on Mo Yuan. Ye Hua’s jealousy was apparent when he asked, “She fed you her heart’s blood for 70,000 years? Was she your lover, High God Mo Yuan?”
Mo Yuan took a sip of his tea and replied, “Bai Qian was my disciple and me, her Shifu. Nothing more and nothing less.”
Ye Hua pretended to be unfazed by Mo Yuan’s words and asked, “How long have you known she was SuSu and how did you discover who she was? Are you the one who burned down her home in Mount Junji and left the human remains behind?”
“No, that was your grandfather Heavenly Lord who burned her home down. He’s responsible for the bones and her hairpin that was left behind. I’m sorry, but I was the one who took her from Celestial Heaven, moments before she was to jump from Zhuxian Terrace,” Mo Yuan replied. He then asked, “Don’t you think it’s enough that Seventeen was broken once before?”
Ye Hua replied, “I broke her so I should be the one to fix her but I can’t get near her to make amends.”
Ye Hua noticed Mo Yuan’s eyes rise towards the person behind him when Ye Hua heard Qian Qian’s voice ask, “Are you looking for me Ye Hua, Crown Prince of Celestial Heaven?”
Ye Hua rose and turned around to see Qian Qian standing behind him. Qian Qian was not as she had been at the Eastern Sea. She was still stunningly exquisite, but this Qian Qian was gracefully reserved. She wore a pale peach gown with gorgeous dark hued peach blossom embroidery that fit her form like a glove. It molded to her body and brought attention to all her alluring curves. Her silky black hair raised in a simple but elegant ornament. Her movements were fluid yet precise. Qian Qian’s big bright eyes gleamed with vitality as she demurely fluttered her eyelashes.
Qian Qian held her head regally, approached Ye Hua and bowed, “High Goddess Bai Qian, Queen of Qing Qiu, greets High God Mo Yuan and Crown Prince Ye Hua of the Celestial Clan.”
Mo Yuan nodded as Qian Qian bowed to him again and said, “Shifu,” before kneeling before Mo Yuan next to Ye Hua.
“Shifu, this disciple would like to request the opportunity to speak openly with Prince Ye Hua regarding my heavenly trial and clarify any misunderstandings that might exist between us. Shifu, forgive my interruption during your talk, but I was told Prince Ye Hua’s desire to meet with me, so perhaps we could clarify some of the confusion between us and form an alliance between Qing Qiu and the Celestial Clan once again for the peace of all realms.” Qian Qian bowed after her request.
Qian Qian suddenly turned all her attention towards Ye Hua, and her beauty took his breath away when she smiled modestly and added, “I will be waiting for you in Qing Qiu, Prince Ye Hua. The seal has been lifted. My father sealed Qing Qiu for reasons unknown, so please allow me to apologize for any inconvenience you might have experienced. Please take your time Prince Ye Hua and come anytime you’d like.”
Qian Qian bowed at Mo Yuan and Ye Hua before cloud jumping away.
“Ye Hua, I owe you a life debt for the cultivation you used to bring me back and one as your brother, so I’m not in a position to ask anything of you, but I must. Couldn’t you and Seventeen separate peacefully and stop harming each other?” Mo Yuan asked and then added, “You’re walking into a trap that will ensnare you both. Haven’t you both suffered enough?”
Ye Hua quickly replied, “I know it’s a trap, but it’s a deadfall that I’ve desired and yearned for every second during the past three hundred years. It matters to me not as long as SuSu… No, Qian Qian is mine.”
Ye Hua stood, bowed and followed after Qian Qian to Qing Qiu.
Qian Qian was waiting and treated Ye Hua with the utmost courtesy. She invited him into her fox den, served and poured his tea and made sure his cup was never empty.
Ye Hua watched as Qian Qian sat and spoke of her heavenly trial. This goddess was not the she-devil he had seen before. She was proper and humble as she thanked Ye Hua for his participation in her trial. Qian Qian acknowledged Ye Hua’s efforts during her time in Celestial Heaven. Qian Qian said her memory was extremely fragmented but she still slightly remembered Ye Hua’s involvement and bits and pieces of their mortal marriage and time in Celestial Heaven. Qian Qian was politely telling him that he played a minor part in her past while thanking him for fathering her child.
Qian Qian also apologized for her indent behavior while attending the banquet at the Eastern Sea. She was too intoxicated and had failed to act like the dignified high goddess that she should have been. A slight blush came to her cheeks, and she flushed becomingly with color as she spoke of her embarrassment.
Ye Hua couldn’t figure out who this goddess was. This woman wasn’t SuSu nor was it the wicked temptress. Who was this goddess before his eyes? Which persona was the real Bai Qian of Qing Qiu? How many masks did this woman possess? Every time Ye Hua thought he had Qian Qian figured out and set his course to claim her, she’d change right before his eyes.
His head was spinning again when she turned to him and said in her soft, loving tone, “Husband, I’d like to accompany you back to Celestial Heaven. Please have the Hall of Beautiful Youth prepared for my arrival. It’s time for me to create your happiness, Ye Hua.”
Ye Hua didn’t care who she was because SuSu was coming home.
to be continued…………..