Chapter 43: The Bloom That Burns
The moon hung low and crimson in the sky, its reflection shimmering like blood across the petals of an enormous celestial lotus that floated at the heart of the crystalline lake. Jin stood at the water's edge, shirtless, sweat clinging to his skin from the sparring session he'd finished with Mei and Yue moments before. The sacred grounds of the Flowering Hollow pulsed with a strange rhythm—life, lust, and something darker beneath.
Yue's fingers were still laced with wind qi, her breath slow and uneven, cheeks tinged pink from the dance of their duel. Mei leaned against a stone pillar, her long hair damp, chest rising and falling as her inner qi tried to settle. Neither of them had truly fought to win. No—what passed between them had been something else.
Something carnal.
Something intimate.
"Why does the air feel like it's watching us?" Yue whispered.
Jin didn't answer at first. His gaze was fixed on the lotus.
"It's the Bloom," Mei said softly, her voice both reverent and wary. "It's alive. Or something close to it. And it's hungry."
Jin turned back to them, the slow burn in his veins refusing to fade. Their sparring hadn't cooled his fire—it had lit it. Mei's shirt still clung damp to her body, outlining the curve of her breasts. Yue had torn hers during a lunge, revealing a shoulder covered in faint scars and musical sigils.
"Hungry for what?" Yue asked, though her body already trembled with the answer.
"Desire," Jin murmured. "It feeds off resonance—off everything we try to suppress."
They didn't need more words.
The three of them moved at once.
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They reached the center of the lotus in silence, leaping across floating petals that were firm as crystal underfoot. The heart of the flower bloomed open to receive them, and a soft, floral glow filled the chamber inside—a warm, dreamlike haven where time seemed to bend.
Petals shifted beneath them, rising into soft cushions as though the flower itself anticipated their needs.
Mei reached for Jin first, her lips brushing his jaw, slow and deliberate. Yue's hand found his chest, her touch trailing downward in a path that made him shiver. There was no pretense of restraint anymore. Not here. Not with the Bloom whispering to all three of them that longing was holy.
Mei straddled Jin, her fingers threading into his hair as her mouth found his. The kiss was deep, heated, unafraid. Yue knelt behind him, her lips grazing the curve of his neck, her hands exploring down his back.
"You're shaking," Jin whispered to Mei between kisses.
"Because I want to be consumed," she breathed, voice husky.
Jin's hands slid beneath her robes, tracing the warmth of her thighs, the softness of her hips. She groaned, pressing closer.
Yue's hands met his from behind, her fingers intertwining with his around Mei's waist.
"Let us fall together," Yue said softly.
And they did.
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Their clothes came off in stages—silk falling like petals, revealing skin touched by qi and need. Mei's breath hitched as Jin's mouth found her breasts, his tongue circling a nipple already hard from desire. Her moans were open, unguarded.
Yue's hands wandered over both of them, tracing, teasing, claiming. She kissed Jin's back, then Mei's shoulder, her lips soft as rain. When Mei turned to kiss her, their mouths met in a clash of heat, and Jin watched with wide, reverent eyes as their tongues danced.
It was no longer clear who led and who followed.
Mei gasped as Jin's fingers found her core—wet, hot, ready. She arched into his touch, her head falling back into Yue's lap. Yue supported her gently, one hand stroking her hair, the other caressing her breasts as Jin leaned down to worship her.
"Jin…" Mei whimpered, her body trembling.
"You're so beautiful like this," he whispered, before sliding his tongue along her folds.
Mei cried out, her thighs quivering. Yue held her steady, kissing her cheeks, her neck, her lips—whispering affirmations against every moan.
Mei climaxed hard, her back arching, hands gripping Jin's hair. He licked her through the waves of it, slow and reverent.
And when she was breathless and dazed, he turned to Yue.
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Yue lay back, her legs parting without shame, eyes full of fire and uncertainty.
"Are you sure?" Jin asked, kneeling between her thighs.
Yue nodded once. "I want to know what it means—to be yours. To be… ours."
Jin leaned down, kissing her inner thigh, her hip, the place just above her entrance. Yue squirmed, fingers twisting in the petals around them.
When his tongue finally touched her, she cried out—loud and raw. Her thighs clamped around his head and he held her there, devouring her like the Bloom itself fed on their resonance. Mei joined them, kissing Yue's lips, holding her as the waves built.
Yue came with a gasp, nails digging into Mei's back, voice shaking with something more than pleasure.
"I didn't know it could feel like that," she whispered.
Jin kissed his way up her trembling body, lips meeting hers—sharing her taste with her.
Their bodies tangled then, all three of them, limbs and mouths and whispered names. When Jin finally entered Mei, it was with Yue kissing her hand. When he moved inside her, Yue kissed him too.
It wasn't just sex. It was a vow. A union of breath and soul.
When Jin came, it was with both girls wrapped around him, gasping, slick with sweat and nectar, their qi entangled.
The Bloom pulsed once—satisfied.
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❀
Later, they lay tangled together in the lotus's heart, watching the moon above begin to pale. The petals slowly closed around them like a lullaby.
"Was it the Bloom… or us?" Mei asked softly.
"It doesn't matter," Yue said. "Because it was real."
Jin looked at them both, at the marks they'd left on each other. "This was a cultivation," he said. "Not of power, but of truth."
Outside, unseen, a pair of eyes watched from the water's edge. She wore crimson robes and held a flute carved from bone.
And she smiled.
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