Fanfiction: Ink in Water - Chapter 3 (Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms 三生三世十里桃花)
Chapter 3 - Green-eyed Stranger
written by Bunnyconsulting by LigayaCroft and Le
editing by kakashi
“Hhhhmmmm…”
Three whole balls of rice were scarfed down so fast, they practically never existed. Bai Qian wiped her mouth clean with her sleeve, held her belly and smiled in contentment. She dropped down lazily onto a plump bed of grass.
After coming down from the hill, she and Moyuan had decided to stop at the edge of the valley for a rest. Now lying beneath a large sandalwood tree, Bai Qian’s limbs extended out—arms stretched above her head, toes pointed in a line, and heels digging into the dirt. Her body rejoiced.
Above, vibrant shades of green disrupted the blue sky and left fragments of it scattered in pieces. She watched as the dense leaves rustled in the breeze, performing a dance with the slits of sunlight that came piercing through the boughs.
When it got too bright, she closed her eyes and continued to twist and stretch.
“Shifu,” she called, “You should try this too!”
There was no response. She peeked over with one eye.
Moyuan was sitting two steps to her right in lotus position, seemingly deep in meditation. His eyes were closed, hands on his knees, face relaxed.
Bai Qian’s eyes opened a little wider to take in the sight of him.
That face that had been giving her cold looks all morning, how come it looked so pleasant now?
For an ice-block, it’s a good thing you’re so handsome.
Her back scooted over on the grass until her head was almost touching his knee, giving her a better view.
He didn’t seem to sense her movement.
Curious, her idle hand reached over for a nearby flower and plucked it from the ground. She held it up in front of his face and gave it a few waves.
Still, no response.
Bai Qian flipped over onto her stomach. Propped up on her elbows, she continued to examine him intently. Her eyes narrowed, head tipping side to side.
“Ice-cube! Snowball! Glacier!” She spouted out in whispers. Her hand flicked his knee with the limp flower stalk, “Can’t figure you—”
“If you’re not tired anymore, we should be on our way.”
The lips had moved, but the eyes were still closed. Cannot underestimate this ice-cube!
“I didn’t mean it, Shifu!” Bai Qian blurted out without thinking.
His lids lifted to look at her, “Mean what?”
“N-Nothing!”
Bai Qian clamped her lips together and tried to grin at him. Then, her body rolled over in a flash.
“Aiyaaaa… Hhnnmm… So sore…” She immediately went back to doing her stretches and forced out a few more grunts and groans until he finally closed his eyes again and disregarded her.
Letting out a sigh of relief, she slumped back down into the grass. Stupid mouth. She gave her lips a few hard slaps and turned her body away from him.
The grass was cool and the sun was warm. The light breeze brought with it the calming scent of sandalwood. Bai Qian laid in a pile and continued to cringe, but managed to be lulled to sleep in a matter of minutes.
When she woke, the sun was three quarters of the way across the sky and Moyuan was no longer beside her.
Probably finding some other spot to meditate.
Bai Qian looked around. The tree she rested under was perched on a small hill. Beneath it was a vast field of blossoming indigo. The blue hues were now vibrantly lit up by the late afternoon light. Rich golden tones blanketed the landscape, casting shadows to one side of all the hills and trees.
In her mind, the image of those cyan-colored pools she had seen earlier popped up. Her body tingled with desire. The perfect opportunity to sneak away for a bath was now.
She got up and moseyed along. After a few steps, a sliver of cyan appeared in the distance. A short sprint later, she was standing at the edge of the pool, fighting the compulsion to dive right in.
Situated in the middle of a sparse section of larches, there was hardly any coverage. Not the most convenient location for a bath. If anyone were to find her, especially him, her cover would be blown completely. Bai Qian was hesitant. Her eyes wheeled around to do a careful sweep. She tiptoed around the embankment some more and looked and looked, but her urges completely overtook her better judgment. Seeing that there really seemed to be nothing but trees and grass all around, she untied her outer robe slowly, then stripped the rest of her layers off in an instant.
The warm water came up to her cheeks, melting away all the tension in her body as she happily paddled around in it. After doing few twists and turns, she took off swimming from one side of the pool to the other and tired herself out completely.
Noticing the head of a large smooth boulder conveniently positioned on one side of the pool, Bai Qian waddled over and settled against it. She leaned back and let out a sigh. She arched her back and sighed some more. The more comfortable she felt, the longer her sighs became.
Until, that is, a noise snuck into her ears.
It sounded vaguely like somebody humming a tune…
Bai Qian’s eyes shot open and she twisted her head around. A tall shadow of a long, slender figure was approaching the pool. She had to raise a hand to wipe her eyes clean. After blinking a few times she looked again.
Long gray hair fluttering like willow beneath a straw hat, strewn across a snow white robe. Movements as languid as water. Walking or gliding, she couldn’t tell. A straw knapsack was hung over one shoulder and swayed side to side.
She had been too careless, far too careless!
The figure kept nearing, until finally, it stopped beneath the very tree that her clothes were hung upon. The knapsack was set down, the straw hat removed, a young man’s face became visible. His features, as delicate as carvings on a fine jade pendant.
He stood and looked directly into the pool. Bai Qian held her breath. He seemed to look right past her.
It then occurred to her, she was being perfectly concealed by the thick layer of steam that hung on top of the water. Bai Qian slowly slid down until only her two eyes were above the surface, and continued to observe the unexpected visitor on the shore.
He now had his back to her, and continued to hum a ditty as he moved around. Before she knew it, Bai Qian was watching him take off his clothes.
A robe fell to the ground. Then, a chiseled bareback revealed itself as he slipped off his tunic.
Namo Amitabha Buddha [1].
Her eyes grew rounder. Bai Qian wanted to smack herself. Clearly, this was peeping but she couldn’t pull her eyes away.
A second later, his hands were on the band of his pants. Bai Qian could not prevent the gasp that escaped her throat. Her mouth was still in the water so the sound was muted but it did not go unnoticed by the half naked stranger. He stopped undressing and looked over in her direction.
“Who’s there?”
Bai Qian bit her lip, snapped around and faced the opposite direction. Her cheeks as hot as burning coals.
No matter how she looked at it, this situation was not in her favor. If she showed herself now, wouldn’t it be obvious that she had been keeping quiet and watching him undress? Not to mention her current state of nakedness, this was truly too awkward. But with no route to escape, she would be discovered sooner or later. And if found later, wouldn’t it just make her look like a bigger pervert? There was no other option.
Turning back around, Bai Qian swallowed hard and prepared to announce herself, but was dumbfounded to find that the stranger had disappeared!
She looked where her eyes last left him. He wasn’t there. She zipped her eyes back and forth along the edge. He wasn’t there either. There was really no trace of him. Bai Qian brought her palms up and rubbed her eyes. Did she imagine him? His clothes were gone, so was his knapsack, like he was never even there to begin with.
A chill crept up her neck.
Her feet took two steps back and stumbled a little. Something slithered around her waist.
“What. Do. We. Have. Here…” A voice drawled beside her ear.
All the blood drained from Bai Qian’s face.
She wrenched her head around and met face to face with the half naked stranger who was now pressed up behind her.
Bai Qian let out a scream so loud, all the birds in all the trees fell out of their nests.
“PERVERT!!!”
He stared back smirkingly. Underwater, his arm around her naked waist, circled tighter.
She spun around, sending a hand swinging at his face. He caught it in a death grip and pulled her closer.
“Pervert? Where? Where is the pervert?” He raised his eyebrows and twirled his head back and forth.
“Let go!!!”
His gaze went back down to her, “Oh wait, that must be you…”
“WHAT?!”
“Peeping at people while they change, ogling even… You thought I couldn’t see you? I mean, I don’t blame you… but really, it’s quite indecent.”
“You—Let me go this instant!”
“Hm…” He lifted his eyes in the air and thought for two seconds, “Nope.”
Bai Qian was about to let out another scream when he took two fingers and pressed it to her throat.
“Too loud.”
Suddenly, her vocal cords felt like they had been tied together. She started to swing her arms and kick her legs at him. He took two fingers and pressed it to her forehead this time. Her body went stiff, frozen solid as a rock.
“Too rowdy.”
Bai Qian’s insides boiled with anger, head about to explode in rage, but all she could do was stare at him. She couldn’t even blink. His spell was actually so powerful that summoning all her core strength, she could not even make it budge.
The stranger now lifted a hand to stroke his chin and narrowed his eyes at her. “A nine-tailed fox huh?”
How could he probe her true form with such little effort?
With a wave of his hand Bai Qian suddenly transformed. Her little furry body dropped into the water, still frozen solid. It nearly sank to the bottom but his hand reached in and fished her out. He held her up by the scruff of the neck, dripping wet. Nine streams of water strung down her nine tails.
“Much cuter like this.”
Grinning, the stranger carried her out of the pool and tossed her into his straw knapsack. The lid flipped down and instantly, everything went dark. Allowing her eyes to adjust, Bai Qian could faintly see out of the small slits in the straw weave. After some rustling around, the bag was lifted up off the ground and was on the move. The scenery blurred and changed.
Where was he taking her?
Bai Qian’s head was being knocked against the side of the bag so hard that she soon felt nauseous.
How was she supposed to escape? This man was far too powerful.
She thought of Moyuan. Where was he right now? Why hasn’t he come looking for her? After hearing her call him those names earlier… maybe he decided he didn’t want this unfilial disciple anymore…
SHIFU!
She suddenly wanted to see that icy face more than anything. All she could do was call out to him in her mind. Bai Qian felt the tears build up behind her little fox eyes, but even her tear ducts were frozen at this point.
“Don’t worry Furball, your Shifu will come for you soon enough. In the meantime, we will have some fun together, what do you say?”
Fun, your grandmother!
Was this man was reading her mind? Bai Qian panicked for a moment, then realized, it wasn’t a bad thing.
Go to hell, scoundrel! Lecher! Scum! Dirtbag!
When she eventually ran out of insults for him, they came to a stop. She heard the sound of a door opening. Stepping inside, the knapsack was set down, the lid flipped open and she was pulled out.
The stranger placed her on a small wooden table, pulled up a chair and sat down in front of her. She could tell they were in a house but couldn’t move her eyes to look around. With her head held in the palm of his hand, the only thing she could look at was his face.
Bai Qian hated it, but she couldn’t deny how handsome that face was. His eyes were lit up like two sparking emeralds in the sunlight that was shining in through a nearby window. Oh, how she wanted to claw those two eyeballs right off of him.
“Tell you what, I’ll undo the binding spell and let you move around. But the second you try some funny business, you go right back to this. Fair enough?”
Bai Qian thought about it for a second and agreed. Revenge was a dish best served cold anyway. If this green-eyed creep was stupid enough to let his guard down, she wasn’t going to let it go to waste.
He snapped his fingers and every fiber in her body loosened up. She dropped onto the table and glared up at him.
Green Eyes smiled and got up. “Look at that mean face, you must be hungry. I’ll cook us some food.”
I’ll cook YOU!
He threw his head around and gave her a look, “Remember what I said, Furball.”
Bai Qian throated a suppressed growl.
After he walked away, she sat up and took the chance to scan around. The room they were in looked like the interior of a small hut. Four walls and a window on one side that let in just enough light. Quaint, barely furnished and a little weary. Not a typical immortal dwelling. In fact, it really seemed like something that belonged in the mortal realm. She couldn’t quite understand why someone with such a lofty appearance would choose to live in such a rundown house.
The wooden table she sat on was in the center of the room, it had two chairs on either side. There was a small kitchen off to one corner and a bed situated on the other.
Looking a little more carefully, Bai Qian saw that everything in this hut was set up for two people. On a barren shelf in the kitchen sat a set of two bowls, two cups, two plates. The bed had two pillows and two throws.
Who would want to share a house with this creep?
It didn’t take long before Green Eyes came back and sat down with a plateful of roast chicken. Bai Qian stared at it not knowing what to do.
She had been eating a vegetarian diet for the past year since becoming a Kunlun disciple, but looking at all that meat made her salivate. She had to give it some thought. Who knew what was going to happen to her at this rate… She didn’t know what this creep had up his sleeve. Moyuan may never come for her. What if tomorrow, she herself were turned into roast meat? There was no point in holding back, she decided; she had better enjoy the pleasures of life while she could.
Bai Qian reached her paws out and was about to claw up a chicken thigh when Green Eyes tapped her paw and pulled the plate away. He set down a smaller plate in front of her and threw on there two skinny chicken feet that he had dug out from beneath the juicy pile of meat.
She stared at the chicken feet, then stared up at him. He was now biting into the thigh she had aimed for earlier. Munching away, yet still managing to look annoyingly graceful.
Stingy, perverted, good for nothing. Keep eating! Hope you choke on a bone and die!
He pulled the clean bone out from his mouth and waved it at her, “Do you want to eat, or no? Want a spanking instead?”
Bai Qian was so furious that she actually resorted to gnawing on the chicken foot in front of her so she could have something to grind her teeth on.
After polishing off the whole chicken, Green Eyes dabbed his mouth clean with a handkerchief and sat back in his chair, eyeing her.
“What’s the God of War doing going around with a nine-tailed white fox like you?”
How does he know about Shifu?
“Why wouldn’t I know? You walked into my dreamscape. I see everything.”
Dreamscape?
“Shifu, huh? Hasn’t that fool learned his lesson with females disciples?” He leaned forward, his index finger hooked under her chin, “Or… you must think you’ve been tricking him, when he has in fact been playing along with you.”
Playing along…
“Don’t tell me you actually thought your disguise would work on the all-mighty God of War.”
Bai Qian gulped. In truth, she had had her suspicions about it. Although Zhe Yan’s spells were powerful, Moyuan was even more powerful. How effective could it be on him?
“Heh heh… That sneaky guy……. So he’s finally decided to pick a fresh little cherry blossom for himself… Here, I was worried he’d never move on from…” His voice trailed off.
She couldn’t make heads or tails out of his words, but by the way he kept referring to Moyuan, they seemed to know each other. Was this a friend or a foe? Bai Qian couldn’t figure out if he was a god or a demon. His clean and elegant countenance made her think Celestial, but his mouth was a little too rogue.
“Furball, you’ll have to work hard. Somebody has to crack that block of ice.”
For some reason hearing somebody else referring to Moyuan this way, really made her fume.
“What? Don’t agree? Well, to be fair, he wasn’t always this way.” He let out a heavy sigh, “The last Demon War really did a number on him… not to mention growing up with—”
Something seemed to have caught his tongue. Green Eyes paused for a moment before continuing.
“Ah, well… that guy has been through a lot, the past is too ugly, let’s not talk about it. He’s the God of War, he’s been bred to endure. The moment he stops being able to… then I suppose this world may as well turn to dust.”
Bai Qian was a little dumbfounded. Hearing those words, her heart jostled with an indescribable sadness.
“Oh! Do you want to see something cool?”
Green Eyes got up from his seat and walked over to a cabinet. He opened a carved wooden box and took out an object.
“Ah, don’t tell that ice-face I showed you this.”
He came back over to her and unwrapped a jade teacup from a silk cloth. Setting it down on the table, he reached for the pot of tea and poured a bit into it. A drop of blood was drawn from his finger that was dripped into the tea. Then, he closed his eyes, seemingly deep in thought, and waved his hand over the teacup.
“Look inside, what do you see?” He motioned to her.
Bai Qian inched closer and looked directly into the cup. Steam was rising, making things blurry, but focusing on the surface of the tea, she could see an image start to take shape.
The clear face of a small child, a boy, maybe 10,000 years of age, appeared. He was perfectly groomed, wearing a crisp white robe, standing beside a red winged dragon. The image started to move and the boy turned his head, almost looking directly at her, and spoke nervously, “I want to… b-but…”
She heard another child’s voice respond. He was not pictured, but the view seemed to be projected from his eyes. “But what? Don’t be a prig! You never have any fun!”
“But this is father’s prized Feilong [2], we’re not even supposed to stand by it…”
“Don’t worry, the old man won’t find out, just get on already!”
The boy looked around and hesitated, but eventually climbed onto the winged dragon. The other child climbed on with him and soon they both took off into the air. The dragon writhed around, the boy clung on for dear life, but eventually it settled down. That boy’s face quickly changed from nervous to carefree, eyes growing bright, mouth wide open laughing hysterically against the blowing wind. Watching him, Bai Qian couldn’t help but smile herself.
The dragon continued to soar higher into the clouds and did a number of loops and twists before returning and landing.
When they got off, the other child’s voice could be heard again, “See? Wasn’t that fun?!”
“Fun! Really really fun!” The boy’s smile was still plastered ear to ear.
“MOYUAN!” A man’s voice boomed.
The boy’s smile instantly melted off.
He immediately dropped to his knees and bowed low to the ground.
“F-Father!”
A man in a dragon-embroidered robe walked forward and stood with the imposing aura of a mountain over the trembling boy, “Did he talk you into this?”
The boy began to furiously kowtow to him, slamming his small head hard onto the ground. “Father, please don’t be angry! Xiao Yu didn’t do anything! This is all my fault.”
He had hit his forehead against the ground so many times that a circle of blood had formed. His voice was filled with fear, but he continued to defend the other child.
“All your fault?”
“Yes... it was I who wanted to ride your mount, I talked him into coming with me!”
He lifted his head and Bai Qian could see a steely resoluteness in his eyes. For a second, he did not look anything like a child.
The older man huffed and threw his sleeves, “Ignorant and impetuous! You’ll receive your lashes, as well as his. After that, you’ll kneel in front of this Feilong until I give you permission to get up.”
When he left, the child carefully rose to his feet. He looked over, a line of blood dripping down between his eyebrows, but his eyes suddenly brightened again. They squinted into two half moons as he smiled warmly and mouthed the words ‘don’t worry’ and ‘thank you’, which Bai Qian assumed was to the child named Xiao Yu.
The picture soon faded from the tea surface.
Bai Qian looked up at Green Eyes, who was staring off into space.
Are you Xiao Yu?
He turned and responded with a small smile.
“Cute, wasn’t he? Didn’t always have such an ice-face…”
A moment later, the devilish glint came back and he leaned forward with excitement, “What else can I show you? Oh! How about that time that I stole his first kiss and he nearly threw up!”
Xiao Yu grabbed the tea cup and was about to do the whole ritual all over again when suddenly the air cracked and behind his chair, appeared the God of War himself.
Bai Qian jumped up on all fours. Her nine tails swinging with affection.
He didn’t look at her and only looked down on Xiao Yu, radiating an aura of murderous intent.
Xiao Yu hadn’t turned around, his hand was still holding onto the teacup as he calmly spoke, “Nice of you to join us… You’ve been in my dreamscape for half a day and just now come looking for me?”
“Give me... the cup.”
“Oh, you want the cup?” He slowly stood up from his seat and turned around to face Moyuan, “This cup? Then, in exchange, I want... THIS!”
It was as though he had become possessed. She couldn’t believe her eyes. Xiao Yu took one leap, pouncing like a cat, and threw his arms around Moyuan. His cheek was now pressed up against the other’s cheek, mouth grinning with pleasure. He was almost mewling.
“Yuan-Yuan!! I’ve missed you so much!”
Bai Qian nearly fell over.
In no stretch of her imagination did she ever expect to see a scene like this. Who could actually be this audacious? And furthermore, instead of fighting off his attacker, Moyuan appeared to have completely resigned himself and just stood there looking pale.
What does this mean? The God of War, one of the most powerful existing gods in all the realms, rivaled only by Donghua Dijun, was standing there, helpless. What does that make this man? Is Green Eyes the most powerful of them all?
“Never come to see me… Never return my letters… Heartless!”
Bai Qian honestly didn’t know whether she was more appalled or impressed.
But she had seen enough.
With one hop, she landed on the chair that Xiao Yu had stood up from and stared at the backside that now faced her. It was time for revenge. She aimed for the plumpest corner of flesh and flared her eyes.
Kidnap me, huh? Feed me chicken feet, huh? Huh?!
She lunged forward.
Mouth snapped open.
Jaw clamped down.
For a second, a pin drop could be heard in the room. Then,
“AY-YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!”
Chapter 4
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Endnotes:
1] Namo Amitabha Buddha: A buddhist mantra, literally meaning “homage to the Amitabha Buddha”. Often used in meditation to clear the mind.
2] Feilong: A legendary winged creature or flying dragon in Chinese mythology.