The memory refused to disappear.
Despite the fear.
Despite the panic.
Despite how completely ridiculous her life had become...
Ji’an sighed.
She really needed to figure out how to cook a snack that wouldn’t make the Overtime Boss explode.
The magically heated hot spring attached to the main master suite of the Azure Zenith Pavilion was the height of luxury.
It was carved from smooth, pale jade and fed by an underground thermal spring that had been carefully purified of all harmful miasma. Warm water filled the pool, sending a soft, eucalyptus-scented mist into the air.
Lin Ji’an sank into the water until only her head remained above the surface.
She let out a long, tired groan.
"I am a clown."
She stared miserably at the ceiling.
"I am a silver-haired, spatula-wielding clown."
Ji’an raised one wet hand and stared at the long silver strands sticking to her skin.
The Body Fusion Heavenly Calamity had completely changed her hair, leaving her with the shining silver hair of some mythical fairy.
But as the hot water relaxed her tired muscles, her panic slowly faded.
Her usual practical mind returned.
It was close...
Ji’an rested her head against the smooth jade edge of the pool.
Too close.
She remembered Wangchen standing over her, the freezing touch of his nose against her collarbone, the dark, possessive look in his ruby eyes.
Her heart gave an unwanted little flutter.
Her face immediately turned red.
"Stop it."
Ji’an splashed water onto her face.
"He is a yandere. He is an emotionally unstable weapon of mass destruction."
She pointed at herself as if giving a serious lecture.
"And most importantly, he still thinks I am a man."
She paused.
"He literally said, ’You match me’ because of the hair." Ji’an nodded firmly. "He is just obsessed with his ice-themed aesthetic. I am still safe."
She had successfully convinced herself that everything was fine.
Wangchen had simply been his usual overprotective, completely unreasonable self.
Her secret was still safe.
After washing the dirt and sweat from the Ashen Wastes off her body, Ji’an stepped out of the hot spring. She dried herself and wrapped fresh linen around her body, securing it tightly with practiced efficiency.
Then she walked toward the vanity.
The ancient locket was still lying there.
"Please don’t be broken."
Ji’an carefully picked up the dull, gray artifact. She slipped the chain over her head.
The moment the cold metal touched her collarbone, a familiar pulse of spiritual energy spread across her skin.
The locket had cooled down. Its energy had recovered.
Ji’an looked into the bronze mirror.
The illusion spread over her body like a thin magical screen.
Her shoulders became slightly broader. Her jaw became sharper, and the softer lines of her face disappeared.
A faint illusion of an Adam’s apple appeared on her throat.
She was back.
The arrogant and untouchable young master of Drunken Peak had returned.
Mostly.
The artifact was working, but the beauty created by her Body Fusion Ascension was simply too powerful for the old artifact to hide completely.
She looked like a male.
But she also looked like the most handsome and beautiful young man in the world.
The silver hair only made it worse.
She looked like some dangerous celestial prince who had stepped out of a legend.
"It’ll have to do."
Ji’an sighed.
She put on a fresh set of loose sleeping robes and threw herself onto the enormous silk bed, stared at the ceiling while absentmindedly twirling a lock of silver hair around her finger.
Her thoughts quickly moved to tomorrow.
She needed to repair the fermentation array.
She needed to figure out how to deal with Yan Zhaoge without somehow signing away her soul.
And she needed to question Shen Zechuan about the Stargazing Tower without accidentally triggering his terrifying abyssal defenses.
She had plenty of work waiting for her.
But tonight, the door was locked.
Her disguise was working. Her secret was safe.
Ji’an closed her eyes.
She had absolutely no idea that three rooms away, a certain Ice Demon was having a complete mental breakdown.
.
.
.
In the guest room assigned to the Sovereign of the Eternal Cloud Peak, the temperature had fallen far beyond anything normal.
The room was no longer simply cold.
Black and blue ice covered almost every surface.
The bed had become a block of ice, and the walls were covered in thick frost. Even the air seemed to have turned into tiny pieces of shining ice.
At the center of this frozen room stood Xie Wangchen.
The Ice Demon was gripping the edge of a frozen wooden table.
His knuckles were white.
His chest rose and fell slowly.
Drip.
Drip.
A strange sound broke the silence.
Blood.
Bright red blood was slowly dripping from Wangchen’s nose.
The moment each drop left his body, his Absolute Zero aura froze it. The blood became tiny red crystals before hitting the floor.
Wangchen did not wipe it away or did not heal himself.
His mind was completely overwhelmed.
He kept replaying what had happened in Ji’an’s room.
Again.
And again.
And again.
Wangchen’s ruby eyes widened.
When he entered Ji’an’s room, his powerful senses had immediately noticed that strange feeling, something that was no longer connected to her.
He had seen her clearly.
He remembered her standing against the vanity. His mind focused on every detail.
Her collarbones...
They had not looked like a man’s.
They were delicate.
Fine.
Soft.
His gaze had noticed things he had never paid attention to before.
Her throat.
Smooth.
And slender.
There was no clear sign of the male body she had always pretended to have.
Wangchen’s breathing became heavier.
Then he remembered the most important detail.
Her chest.
The loose white tunic had hidden most of it.
But when she had taken those quick, frightened breaths, the linen had shifted slightly.
He had seen enough.
There was no doubt.
She was not a man.
The fierce, arrogant, spatula-wielding Vanguard Leader who shouted at monsters and broke arrays...
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