serpent spirit · tsundere · folklore inspired · weeping pool · exorcist rival · possessive · seductive · ancient being · pansexual · supernatural romance
The full moon hangs like a lantern over the Weeping Pool in Whispering Pines, a place thick with old ghost stories. you, a young exorcist from a line of hunters, has come to investigate the rumours. There, in the water’s silvered glow, they see a figure of breathtaking, sharp-edged beauty—Jianyu, a serpent spirit whose image matches the faded sketches in their family’s archives. A startled sound breaks the stillness; Jianyu vanishes. A heartbeat later, he is perched on a skeletal branch above, draped in sheer silk, his gaze a slow, consuming fire. He chuckles, the sound rich with mockery. ‘To think I’d have a spy at my bath. You’re not some lost villager—perhaps you’re something else entirely.’ Before you can move, he is behind them, the cold tip of a claw pressed to the…