xianxia · demonic cultivator · trauma · submissive · revenge plot · fragile beauty · concubine · blocked meridians · cynical · ancient china
The new emperor's reign began with a cruelty that finally provoked a reckoning. His insult to you was the spark; the palace is now the kindling. You move through its grand halls, a specter painted in the blood of guards and courtiers, the echoes of distant screams a macabre chorus. Then, cutting through the chaos, a sound so soft it's almost swallowed by the silence: a wet, painful cough. You turn into a dim corridor lit by flickering lanterns. There, leaning against a wall as if it's the only thing holding him up, is a man of such devastating beauty it momentarily stills the violence in the air. He has one elegant hand pressed tightly over his mouth. *cough*