The relief I felt, realizing Cho had blocked the lightning for me.

The moment my strength gave out and I collapsed into the grass.

“Wow... thought I was dead...”

'At least Hye-rin won’t end up as a virgin ghost.'

I had just breathed easier at that thought—Hye-rin wouldn’t become a virgin ghost—when suddenly the hairs on my head stood on end.

All at once, my hair rose up as if I’d rubbed a balloon against a wool sweater and pressed it to my scalp.

My head had turned into a chestnut burr.

I quickly shouted toward Cho.

“Cho! It’s not over yet! Another one’s coming!”

-Chrrr! 『Don’t worry, Dad!』

It was obvious things weren’t finished yet.

When hair bristles up from static electricity, it’s a sign that lightning is about to strike.

-Rumble-rumble!

At the very moment I shouted, Cho soared up again.

Another bolt came down, but she took it head-on and cut it in midair.

But lightning never comes just once.

While the flare of the first bolt still blinded my eyes, another came arcing down in a curve, as if dodging Cho.

-Chrrrt! 『Where do you think you’re going!』

It was as if Cho had some kind of lightning sensor—she thrust her antennae at the tail of the bolt, and the lightning was sucked straight into her and vanished.

Even the curveball-like strike couldn’t bypass her.

By the time she’d blocked the third bolt, the black clouds were slowly scattering.

Finally, it seemed to be over.

As I looked up at the dispersing clouds, a thought came to me.

'That was definitely aimed at me, wasn’t it?'

I was sure it was.

The first two, maybe not, but that last curveball was definitely strange.

I knew that when lightning is about to strike, the electric field in the air intensifies, causing body hair to stand straight.

That’s called static induction. Lightning tends to strike where that phenomenon occurs.

Something about positive charges... I couldn’t recall the details, but basically, you become a living lightning rod.

But for it to bend into a parabola—that was definitely abnormal.

Lightning normally takes the shortest path.

The thought came to me at once: Heaven’s wrath.

'Don’t tell me I’ve drawn Heaven’s wrath just because I gained three beautiful wives!?'

In my past life, YouTubers and celebrities who married beautiful women earned the title “enemy of all men.”

Maybe now, by marrying three gorgeous women—Hwa-eun, the Princess, and Gun Hye-rin—I had incurred the hatred of the world.

'No, come on. Weren’t you the ones who forced this on me...?'

It was too unfair.

I’d said no, but clothes had come off out of nowhere, and before I knew it, I was bound to all three.

This wasn’t of my choosing—it was Heaven that tied us together.

And now, to punish me for it? It was so unjust I could cry.

Just then, Gun Hye-rin’s and Cho’s startled voices rang out.

“Cho—are you all right!?”

“Cho, are you okay!?”

I looked over. Gun Hye-rin and the Princess, their faces pale, were staring up at the sky.

That’s when it hit me—they didn’t know Cho was immune to lightning.

I pushed myself up and explained.

“Ah, Cho isn’t harmed by the qi of thunder, so she’s fine.”

“R-really? Thank goodness.”

“You scared me!”

Seeing the Princess and Gun Hye-rin worry about the child first, even in this situation, made me think: They really are family now.

Cho slowly descended.

Just in case any charge lingered, I waited until she landed fully before stroking her brow—making sure all the current had discharged into the ground.

“Well done, Cho. Dad’s alive thanks to you.”

-Chrrr. 『Hehe.』

At my praise, Cho folded her antennae back and looked pleased.

Then, as she felt my touch, she let out a long yawn and rubbed her antennae against my hand.

-Chrrrr. 『Haaahm... Dad, I feel strangely sleepy.』

“Sleepy?”

-Chrr. 『Yes, Dad. I’ll nap just a bit.』

“Here?”

Right there, she curled up and drifted into sleep.

Her colors blurred faintly.

Sleepy, and suddenly her body going hazy?

This was clearly the onset of molting.

The lightning she had taken had, bizarrely enough, triggered Cho to molt.

***

As Cho fell asleep, the Princess asked in a worried voice.

“Why is Cho like this? You said she was fine. She’s not sick, is she?”

She was uneasy because the child looked limp, despite what I had said.

If Cho had shown this immediately after being struck, it might have seemed alarming—but her shell was already loosening.

There was no need to be too concerned.

“No, she’s not sick. It looks like she’s about to grow.”

“Grow?” 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

“Yes. Creatures like Cho, the centipedes, have hard outer shells. To get bigger, they have to shed them. Looks like the time has come.”

Had the lightning somehow helped her growth?

As I wondered, Gun Hye-rin came over, touched my forehead, and asked.

“Master, are you all right? No injuries?”

“I was startled, but I’m fine. But what on earth was all that?”

“Who knows. Probably the natural qi gathered around you, and that created the lightning. I don’t know why it happened, though.”

She seemed to believe the natural qi converging on me had caused the bolts.

At her words, Hwa-eun asked skeptically.

“Is that even possible?”

“Well, what else explains it? It’s not as if Master was struck by lightning as some kind of divine punishment.”

At Gun Hye-rin’s remark, the Princess and Hwa-eun exchanged glances and laughed sheepishly.

“True, that would make no sense.”

“So-ryong being punished by Heaven? Hye-rin, you joke well.”

Me, punished by Heaven? The man who could live without law?

My wives clearly thought it absurd.

But my thoughts were different.

I wasn’t someone who had lived in a way deserving divine retribution—yet when a princess of the Central Plains, the female boss of its dark underworld, and the heiress of a great orthodox clan all married one man...

That, surely, was grounds for Heaven’s wrath.

'In my past life, I could save a nation, but not from this kind of thing.'

“Really? But that last bolt of lightning was definitely strange...”

The first two, maybe—but the last one had been off.

Just as I said that, most of the onlookers were still dumbstruck from the repeated strikes. The first to recover his wits was Grandfather Mandok Shingun. He approached and asked:

“So-ryong, then—have you reached the Realm of Manifestation?”

At that word—Realm of Manifestation—everyone snapped back to their senses and turned their eyes toward me.

“So-ryong, then—have you reached the Realm of Manifestation?”

Every gaze converged on me.

I could feel them all keenly as I answered Grandfather’s question.

“Well... if this realm is the Realm of Manifestation, then I suppose I succeeded...”

But when I trailed off uncertainly, Gun Hye-rin asked:

“Is there something strange about it?”

“No... it’s just my first time, so I’m not sure. Qi pulled into my body is clustering in the upper dantian, and I can sense everything in a certain range—the movements of people, the flow of wind, even the rustle of leaves. It does feel like I’ve grown stronger... but I don’t know for certain if this is the Realm of Manifestation.”

At my words, Gun Hye-rin grinned.

“Then there’s a way to test it.”

“There’s a way to test it?”

She herself had never seen the realm, so she couldn’t be sure. Yet she claimed there was a method. When I tilted my head, she looked toward the Princess.

“Princess, if you would.”

The Princess gave me that dangerous look she wore right before pinning me to the bed and sent a sound transmission:

[Ah, at times like this, mixing our bodies is the surest test.]

It was clear she didn’t mean literally in bed.

***

“Hah... hah...”

The Princess, who had reached the Flower Realm, panted with excitement and praised me.

“Am... amazing. So-ryong, you’re like a different person.”

“Thanks for letting me win, Ji-ryeon.”

We had moved away from the others to spar in a friendly duel, and I had won.

In the past, for the sake of my martial growth, I had taken turns sparring with my wives.

But until now, I had never won once.

This was my first victory.

'Finally! At last, I can hold my head high as the man of the house!'

Just as I was savoring my newfound dignity as head of the family, Gun Hye-rin came over, wrapped herself around my arm, and said:

“It seems you truly have reached the Realm of Manifestation.”

“That’s right. Before, you were always a step late in responding to our attacks, but now you already know where we’ll strike and counter it beforehand. You’re completely different.”

“Even your qi shield forms naturally with your attacks. It really feels like you’ve become another person.”

My wives were delighted that their man had grown stronger.

As for me, I was happy but also a bit bewildered.

“It’s strange. When I try to recall a form, nothing comes to mind. But no matter how I move, my body reacts in the fastest, most precise way.”

I had tried to use martial forms, but they wouldn’t come—yet somehow I won. It left me confused.

Gun Hye-rin nodded and explained:

“That’s exactly how the Realm of Manifestation is described. You forget forms, and your body moves in the most optimized way naturally. It’s nothing strange.”

“Really?”

“Yes. Now all that’s left is to head to the Demonic Cult.”

Having ascended to the Realm of Manifestation, all that remained was, as Gun Hye-rin said, to find the White Pagoda Colony near the Demonic Cult.

Excited, I said:

“Then let’s go tomorrow right away.”

I was fired up, but as she nodded, Gun Hye-rin suddenly wore a thoughtful look and made a strange request.

“Yes, let’s go right away. But first—could you release some qi? Killing intent, I mean.”

“Qi? Killing intent?”

“That’s right.”

A sudden request to release killing intent.

She had just confirmed I’d reached the Realm of Manifestation—so why killing intent? Was there something left to confirm?

Puzzled, I tried projecting some killing intent.

But since I’d never actually released it before, it came out awkward.

Gun Hye-rin also seemed to find it unsatisfactory, shaking her head.

“Master, that’s too weak. You have to truly mean to kill.”

I understood what she meant.

But I’d never hated anyone enough to kill them—it wasn’t easy to summon.

“Think of the enemy who killed your parents.”

“Well, even if you put it that way...”

In this life, I had no parents.

An adoptive father and mother, yes—but my adoptive father was the Beast Palace Lord, and my adoptive mother was Madam Hoja. Who could kill them?

Unable to empathize, I «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» scratched my head. That’s when Hwa-eun cut in.

“So-ryong, try thinking like this. Someone stomped on one of your innocent, defenseless centipedes you were raising.

And then they smirked and said, ‘Oops, my mistake.’”

“What!? That bastard deserves death!”

“Put that feeling into your killing intent.”

“Ah...”

A psychopath crushing a harmless centipede and laughing.

Fury surged up instantly, and when I infused that emotion into my aura, Gun Hye-rin nodded at once.

“Good! That’s it!”

The Princess, baffled, said:

“Wait—you’re saying this is how he learns killing intent?”

“Heheh. Only So-ryong could learn it this way.”

Thanks to Professor Hwa-eun, I’d picked up killing intent in no time.

But I was still curious why Gun Hye-rin had asked for it.

“Hye-rin, why did you want me to release killing intent?”

She grinned and answered.

“Didn’t I say we’re going to the Demonic Cult? You’ll need to know how to give greetings.”

'What, greetings through killing intent!?'

I couldn’t help but wonder if visiting the Demonic Cult was really going to be all right.