When Gun Hye-rin told me to sit on the chair draped in leopard skins, I thought she just wanted me to try sitting in a high seat once. Turns out, this chair was both her bed and her throne.

From what she told me, the Heavenly Demon lies here slanted, eats here, sleeps here—everything.

So last night we ended up spending a heated night atop it, and those leopard patterns... they were something else.

Back in my previous life, I used to wonder why women’s underwear so often had leopard print. Having experienced it firsthand, now I understood.

The pattern stirred up a person’s primal side.

Truthfully, I was more a specialist in insects and reptiles, the arthropods. I could be one of those creatures, sure, but I wasn’t exactly close to being a beast.

I hated fur, after all.

But with Gun Hye-rin lying atop leopard skin, I could become a beast.

That heavy air of the night—

Like the red glow of a burning lantern, primal energy ran wild across the skin, and bare bodies burned hot.

We exchanged the gaze of wild beasts standing at the jungle’s gate, then lunged at each other, instincts unleashed.

Sweat and gasping breaths spilled across the leopard hide.

Recalling last night, I smiled faintly.

'Well, I am from the Beast Palace too, aren’t I?'

Not by blood, but close enough—half Beast Palace, so to speak.

So even nights like that felt only natural.

When Gun Hye-rin awoke and our eyes met, she blushed and yanked the leopard skin up, covering herself until only her eyes peeked out.

When I pulled her closer, her trembling voice came out.

“M-master.”

“Just woke up?”

She only nodded, then asked in a timid voice.

“Did this humble concubine... do well yesterday? I didn’t do anything wrong, or strange, did I?”

She’d always been too tense to manage it before, but since it was her home ground last night, thankfully it worked out.

Still, maybe because she hadn’t been able to before, she was worried whether she’d done poorly.

From my experience, I could swear she’d done fine. But a mischievous streak tugged at me, and I grinned as I said,

“You just lay there. Where’s the doing well or not in that?”

“Kkhhh... S-sorry.”

She flustered, not knowing what to do.

But truthfully, she hadn’t lain there like a log.

'Maybe because she’s a martial artist of the Flower Realm, she was quite responsive.'

In martial circles, when fighters match their forms or spar for practice, they call it “harmonizing.” Last night, our harmony was excellent.

It’s all a matter of using the body, isn’t it?

And since she’d honed her body with martial arts all the way up to the Flower Realm, giving the right responses to my movements wasn’t difficult for Gun Hye-rin.

As for me, I was in the Realm of Manifestation, my strength overflowing.

“No, really. I was joking. We matched perfectly last night, so don’t worry.”

“R-really?”

“Of course.”

When I whispered that we matched perfectly, her face flushed, and she rubbed her cheek against my chest.

“T-thank goodness. I was praised.”

How unfair is it, for the leader of the Central Plains’ greatest cult to be this cute?

Breathing hot air against her ear, I’d started planting kisses along her neck when a voice came from outside.

“Haang. W-wait, Master. Haaat.”

“Heavenly Demon, did you cough?”

Startled, I straightened, and Gun Hye-rin snapped toward the door, her voice cold and sharp.

“What is it!?”

To me she was adorable, delicate, but to her subordinates she was the ice queen.

Well, I couldn’t blame her. Getting interrupted at such a moment—anyone would be furious.

Nodding that it was only natural, I heard the answer from outside.

“The Grand Elder has come to see you.”

According to Gun Hye-rin, it was true—we needed to have a proper talk with the Grand Elder at some point.

There may have been debates among the elders since our meeting yesterday.

With a disappointed look, Gun Hye-rin said,

“Tell him to wait. I’ll come shortly.”

“Yes, Heavenly Demon!”

I threw on my clothes, followed her downstairs, and found the Grand Elder alone, seated in what seemed like a receiving room on the second floor.

The moment he saw us, he stood.

For some reason, he looked at us with wide eyes.

Then his face turned solemn, as though facing a life-or-death matter.

'What’s this?'

I didn’t know why, but it didn’t feel like anything good.

At Gun Hye-rin’s urging, I sat in the main seat, and she settled right beside me.

“Well, what is it?”

At her question, the Grand Elder cupped his fists respectfully toward me and said,

“The Heavenly Demon Cult will obey, so long as no harm comes to the cult leader’s bloodline. Khhk.”

And then he broke into tears.

Gun Hye-rin and I glanced at each other, tilting our heads.

“?”

“?”

'What, dementia?'

At first I thought the Grand Elder must be senile.

He looked about the age where dementia could hit, and he was spouting nonsense out of nowhere.

『“Could it be the Grand Elder has dementia, or maybe some old-age sickness?”

“N-no, impossible! The Grand Elder is still strong and clear.”

“Then why’s he talking like some old man losing his grip...”』

Maybe it was menopause? I’d heard men could get tearful in middle age.

Could it be too much estrogen? I scratched my head and asked,

“What exactly do you mean?”

I even forgot Gun Hye-rin had told me to drop honorifics and just speak plainly in front of the cult.

The Grand Elder, tears streaming down his face, looked at Gun Hye-rin.

“Forgive me. For our sake. Khhh.”

Why was he crying instead of giving us breakfast? So damn frustrating.

***

"Y-you mean... it wasn’t an insult!?"

I gently soothed the Grand Elder and got him talking.

Strictly speaking, once I pledged I wouldn’t take anyone’s life, he started spinning his tale—and it was downright absurd.

Because I’m a martial artist of the Flower Realm, the Grand Elder had concluded I’d seized Gun Hye-rin to subjugate the Heavenly Demon Cult.

He even thought last night I’d taken Gun Hye-rin by force with the cultists as hostages.

'No, I came to catch a toad, Grandpa. And last night was a consensual, perfectly legal act between husband and wife. That scary thing you’re imagining? That was just a brief role-play bit yesterday, okay?'

"Hehe. And? How is the Heavenly Demon?"

"Khhk. To think I, a master of Baekdo... I believed I would never be pierced by anything but a sword. L-like this—does this suffice?"

"It was good."

We’d only done the tiniest sliver of what the Grand Elder was imagining—and only as a bit of play.

I was just swinging by my wife’s parents’ place on my way to collect a hobby toad, that’s all.

At his words, Gun Hye-rin hugged me.

"Insult? Hardly. I love our Master very much. We merely consummated the wedding night..."

"That’s right. And the Heavenly Demon Cult is practically my wife’s family—how would I ever treat them carelessly?"

The Grand Elder, who’d been wearing a look of disbelief, asked in a cautious voice.

"R-really?"

"Of course."

"Naturally."

It was obvious.

"Conquering the Heavenly Demon Cult"—what nonsense is that?

At our words, the Grand Elder finally came to and began asking practical questions.

"Then what standing does the Heavenly Demon hold? I heard our lord already has a wife—surely she was not... stolen away...?"

Had Ma Cheon-pung told him?

He seemed to know I was already the Tang Clan’s son-in-law.

"Ah, don’t worry. I have Imperial permission already—I am a principal wife as well."

"T-the Imperial Court!? You mean the Central Plains’ Imperial Court?"

When the word "Imperial" left Gun Hye-rin’s lips, the Grand Elder looked thunderstruck.

Gun Hye-rin rested her head fondly on my shoulder.

"Our Master is also an Imperial son-in-law. Princess Gwan-do, Yoo Ji-ryeon, is the wife of an Imperial son-in-law."

A moment ago he’d been barking up the wrong tree; now the Grand Elder wore a face that said he had no idea what any of this meant.

He stared blankly for a beat, then asked, careful as if stepping on thin ice.

"So... you’re the shared son-in-law of the Tang Clan, the Imperial Court, and the Heavenly Demon Cult?"

"That’s right."

"Ahaha. That’s... how it works out, I suppose?"

I answered with an awkward smile, and the Grand Elder was aghast.

Even to him it sounded ridiculous.

It’s absurd for me—and how much more so for a third party?

"W-will this be all right? Even with the Imperial Court, if the righteous Baekdo Murim—especially the Tang Clan’s son-in-law—were to take the Heavenly Demon Cult’s leader as another wife, then... Of course it’s a talma-level realm, but Baekdo Murim is not a place that turns purely on might..."

We had discussed this, my wives and I.

If I became the Strongest Under Heaven, no one would dare act out—but what if it got exposed before then?

So we had a plan. The Imperial Court.

The Heavenly Demon Cult might be one thing, but Baekdo Murim respects the Imperial word; His Majesty would issue an order to protect us.

Invoke the Blood Cult: with a war about to break out because of them, why make more enemies and start another fight?

And if it came out after the war with the Blood Cult, we’d say: How long has it even been since we finished that war, and you want to start another?

The Imperial Court doesn’t interfere lightly, but this much it could ask.

Because of the Blood Cult, the common people are suffering—so rein in the Murim.

The Princess also said the Emperor would grant at least this request, so odds were high things would proceed as planned. In that case, there was something to ask of the Heavenly Demon Cult as well.

I broached it first.

Since they revere strength, this was the bait anyone in the Heavenly Demon Cult would naturally respect.

"I may not be far from the next realm."

"T-the next realm—surely you don’t mean Life-and-Death?"

"Yes."

"Th-that..."

He reeled when I said I might reach the Life-and-Death Stage.

I asked if what we had in mind would be possible.

"Even if Baekdo Murim does not revolve around strength alone, if I step into Life-and-Death, there should be nothing to worry about."

"That is certainly true."

"Still, [N O V E L I G H T] if there’s any trouble before that, I would like this done:

We will request mediation from the Imperial Court. If we can avoid clashes for as long as we live, that would be best.

I respect personal tastes very much. For that reason, I consider the Heavenly Demon Cult quite a fine place.

So I won’t ask you to forget old grudges. Hye-rin tells me Baekdo Murim nearly wiped you out. I can’t tell you to forget that.

But if we can avoid clashes for as long as we live, that is what I’d like."

Since Gun Hye-rin is the leader, we could force it through, but I couldn’t ask for peace, not here.

This is the Heavenly Demon Cult.

A place full of warlike people—who would favor a peace pact?

But the Grand Elder is like the cult’s chief of administration and supply.

Within the Heavenly Demon Cult, they revere Gun Hye-rin, but they respect the Grand Elder.

I was asking him to set the tone on the inside. He, in turn, attached a cautious condition.

"If a child between the two of you becomes the Heavenly Demon Cult’s next Heavenly Demon, that would be best."

"Eh? A child?"

"The child of two powerful people will be stronger still, no?"

I felt like he was thinking of me as a stud horse, and Gun Hye-rin shrieked.

"Y-you speak too soon, Grand Elder! We have only just spent the wedding night!"

But I know this much:

Numbers add up quickly.

And now that I’m in the Realm of Manifestation, with yang energy circulating smoothly, the wedding night turning into A Thousand and One Nights is only a matter of time.

***

Wrapping up our business at the Heavenly Demon Cult, I immediately set out—with Cho and Gun Hye-rin, who’d been waiting nearby—for the place with the termite towers.

As Gun Hye-rin said, it wasn’t far from the Heavenly Demon Cult. Here, peculiarly, along a watercourse in a valley, rows of white termite towers lined both sides.

'Oho, nice.'

Unlike the parched border of Sichuan and Qinghai, a thin stream trickled between termite towers to left and right.

The moment I saw it, I knew this was the place.

If the World-Destroying Golden Toad was here, the white termites it was expected to feed on were everywhere nearby, and a brook ran down the middle to keep its body hydrated.

I quickly began searching the surroundings.

"What exactly are we looking for?"

"Traces of the World-Destroying Golden Toad. If it’s here, it will be feeding on the termites in these towers.

So we need to find the holes the toad would have bored into the towers."

My reason for seeking out these termite towers wasn’t anything else.

Even as a spirit creature it might differ a bit, but frogs don’t synthesize venom in their bodies.

Unlike toads, frogs do not create poison; they absorb toxic compounds from venomous prey and store them in their bodies.

So I told them to look for the holes it would have used to enter and catch the white termites inside.

"-Tzzrrr. Got it, Dad."

"Understood."

A short while later, as we spread out, we found a pitch-black hole in the largest central termite tower.

As if light itself had been erased.

"A hole like this?"

From that ink-dark hole, the scent of a spirit creature wafted thick and strong.