It demanded possession.

Shiru looked across the fire at Gu Zhiwei.

The Holy Son was still staring into the flames, a soft, incredibly fond, and undeniably pining smile on his face.

’He loves him,’ Shiru realized with a jolt of clarity. ’That Zhiwei is entirely, hopelessly in love with the cook. And he is too innocent to even realize it.’

And then, a darker, colder realization followed.

’And so am I.’

The campfire crackled, illuminating the faces of the two geniuses.

They were supposed to be allies.

They were supposed to be forging a brotherhood that would unite their families; they always had been each other’s dependable support.

But as they both sat in the dark, silently yearning for the same arrogant, gray-aproned boy, the seeds of a bitter, devastating rivalry took root in the ash.

They were no longer allies.

They were competitors for the same, oblivious prize.

***

High above the clouds, in the pristine, freezing meditation chambers of the Heartless Dao Peak, an immortal was breaking.

Elder Qin Changxu, a man who had lived for three centuries, a man who had literally frozen his own heart to sever all mortal attachments, was currently on his hands and knees on the cold jade floor, gasping for air as if he were drowning.

His heavy, formal silver robes were disheveled.

His perfect, silver hair was a mess.

The meditation chamber was meant to be kept at an absolute zero, a physical reflection of his Dao.

But the room was currently stiflingly hot, the air thick with steam as the ambient ice violently melted, reacting to the catastrophic, blazing heat radiating from the Elder’s own body.

He was having a Qi deviation once again.

But it was not caused by a flawed technique or a demonic attack.

It was caused by a memory.

No matter how hard he meditated, no matter how much Flawless Ice Qi he pumped into his meridians, Elder Qin could not erase the sensory imprint of the bathhouse.

He closed his eyes, and he didn’t see the Great Dao.

He saw Lin Ji’an.

He felt the burning weight of the boy straddling his hips.

He felt the frantic, desperate heat of Ji’an’s hands pressed flat against his bare, freezing chest.

He smelled the crushed mint and spices.

He saw the thin, wet cotton tunic clinging to the lithe, agile curves of the boy’s torso, outlining the desperate heave of his chest.

"Stop," Elder Qin gasped, his voice a hoarse, ragged sob, clutching his head with trembling hands. "Get out of my mind. Get out!"

He was an elder.

Ji’an was a junior.

He was a man.

Ji’an was a boy.

It was wrong on every conceivable level.

It was a violation of sect hierarchy, a violation of mortal morality, and a complete obliteration of the Heartless Dao he had spent lifetimes cultivating.

If the other elders knew the filthy, depraved, desperately hungry thoughts that were currently ravaging his mind, they would strip him of his title and execute him for corruption.

He should be disgusted.

He should want to kill the boy for tainting his spiritual sea.

But as Elder Qin knelt on the wet jade, trembling violently, a tear of pure agony and overwhelming desire tracked down his cheek.

He didn’t want to be pure anymore.

The ice was a prison.

The Heartless Dao was a lie.

The pull of Ji’an’s charm had completely bypassed his three hundred years of discipline, striking directly at the core of his soul, awakening a hunger that could not be sated by meditation.

He wanted to feel the heat.

He wanted the boy.

"Ji’an," Elder Qin whispered to the empty, steaming chamber, the name tasting like a forbidden, intoxicating poison on his tongue.

The ancient, untouchable immortal slowly raised his head, his eyes burning with a dark, feverish, broken obsession.

He had lost his Dao.

He had lost his mind.

All that remained was a desperate, clawing need to possess the one thing that had made him feel alive.

’I will strip him of his apron,’ Elder Qin thought, his sanity completely fracturing into a thousand glittering pieces. ’I will lock him in this chamber. I will bind those hands that saved me, and I will drown in his heat until the Heavens themselves burn!’

***

Across the continent, the narrative of the world was warping.

The male leads, the beasts, the demons, the swordsmen, the assassins, the scholars, the heroes, and the immortals, were entirely unaware of each other’s specific torments.

They did not know that they were all suffering from the same, devastating affliction.

They all believed they were harboring a dark, shameful, forbidden desire for a sixteen-year-old boy. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

They all battled the guilt, the societal taboo, and the clash of their respective Daos.

And, simultaneously, every single one of them made the same, terrifying decision.

They abandoned their morals.

They abandoned their guilt.

The biological and spiritual magnetism of the disguised female side character was written into the laws of nature to be ignored.

They didn’t care about the rules.

They didn’t care about the Heavens anymore.

As Lin Ji’an slept peacefully in her bed, completely oblivious to the catastrophic romantic force she had accidentally triggered.

This made the most powerful, dangerous men in the world turn their eyes toward the capital.

The Official Sect Martial Ranking was no longer just a tournament for glory or resources.

It was a hunt.

And they were all coming for the same prey.

***

The concept of a "vacation" in a Xianxia web novel universe was, Lin Ji’an had rapidly discovered, a complete and utter mythological fallacy.

It was a lie propagated by authors to give their protagonists a false sense of security right before dropping a metaphorical piano on their heads.

Ji’an had returned to the Lin General’s Estate with the naive, desperate hope of resting her battered meridians.

She wanted to sleep for a week.

She wanted to eat food she hadn’t personally cooked for once and be a lazy fish.