From the stone mountain behind the Beast Palace, when I looked down, my wives were running toward my quarters.

Behind them, Grandfather Mandok Shingun and the Tang Clan elders were searching the area, and my adoptive father was shouting for people to find me.

“Hurry and find So-ryong! Quickly!”

“Understood!”

I was hiding in a crevice in the night-shade of the stone mountain behind the Beast Palace, watching all this.

“Whew, that was close. I’ll sneak back into our quarters quietly at night.”

They were looking for me like that because I’d refused the Emperor’s decree in front of the crowd and my family.

The decree appointing me King of Dai Viet.

I’d said I was a common man unfit to shoulder such a position.

Of course, that alone was a shocking statement, but this turning into a chase was because of the Vice Minister of Rites.

When I dropped the bomb, the people gathered were flustered, but the Vice Minister of Rites wasn’t flustered at all.

At first, he was a little surprised, but he soon composed himself and said,

“His Highness the Crown Prince said you would refuse, and indeed, you have.”

He spoke as if he’d known all along.

More surprised, I asked,

“His Highness the Crown Prince?”

“Yes. He said, since the Imperial Son-in-Law is a free spirit, you would likely refuse.”

“Whoa.”

My brother-in-law seemed to understand me better than I thought.

As expected of a man fit to be a sage-king.

My father-in-law shows signs of a tyrant’s temperament, but my brother-in-law overflows with potential for a sage-king.

Judging just by how well he reads people, doesn’t it seem he’ll place the right person in the right post?

While I was marveling, the Vice Minister of Rites smiled and said the decree would come down again.

“Even if you refuse, the decree will likely be issued again.”

“Again?”

“His Majesty’s will is strong. No matter how you refuse, he will surely press the offer again and again.”

‘What, does my will not count?’

Well, the history books say as much.

There were times when Joseon kings tried to reappoint outstanding scholars or retired officials, and some of them kept refusing.

The king kept urging, the official kept refusing.

Not wanting troublesome work is natural, then and now.

It seemed the same thing would happen to me.

But I would refuse with all my might.

‘Come on. A king? Who would do something that troublesome?’

Reviving the already-ruined Dai Viet would be a heavy task. Sure, the Emperor would support it, but am I really going to take on something that annoying?

As I resolved to refuse vigorously with my full strength, the Vice Minister of Rites looked at my wives and said,

“Since he has refused for now, I will return, but I ask Your Highness the Princess and you two ladies to persuade the Imperial Son-in-Law. And the elders of your clan as well.”

The bomb the Vice Minister of Rites tossed.

As soon as he said that, the elders and my wives looked at me.

Their eyes said they’d grab me right now and talk me around.

But how could I fail to notice that?

I said I was going to the toilet and bolted, then hid here.

My realm in the Beast-Heart Technique had risen; now, once registered in the Beast-Heart Technique, we could know each other’s location—but even if ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) others couldn’t, I was in a state where I could switch off that tracking function.

A perfect dive with even that turned off.

‘A perfect escape, So-ryong.’

“Should I nap in the shade?”

I was debating whether to take a nap in the rock’s shade when it happened.

Through our group chat, my wives’ voices came.

『“Master! Master!”

“So-ryong!”

“My lord, where are you?”』

Urgent voices looking for me.

But I had no intention of answering.

Not until this heated atmosphere cooled down.

If I went out now, I’d only get scolded.

But a moment later, my vision spun—ping.

I felt a mind-space link trying to form.

“Huh, no way?”

Since they couldn’t find me even when they searched, and couldn’t confirm my location, my wives seemed to be attempting a mind-space link.

Fat chance.

Entry into the mind-space of the Beast-Heart Technique is a kind of appointment request.

I could refuse it from this side.

Because they were trying to enter my mind-space.

But even as I refused with all my might, the pressure increased.

Immediately, the pressure intensified.

Now not one but two were attempting to link.

‘Ghk. But I can still bear it.’

You can refuse from this side, but as the pressure increases, you can’t refuse forever.

Because the Beast-Heart Technique is a bilateral contract; one side’s authority isn’t infinitely high.

But two was fine.

I could endure up to three.

‘Kgh.’

As expected, the pressure increased further.

Since one wasn’t enough, then two; since two weren’t enough, three—the number seemed to be going up, and three should be my wives’ limit, shouldn’t it?

‘Heh heh, not a chance.’

I could bear up to three—triumphant for a moment—when somehow a fourth weight was added.

“Kgh. Suddenly I’m so sleepy. Which of the kids is helping the wives? D-damn... The kids couldn’t enter the mind-space by their own will.”

Entering the mind-space by one’s own will was limited to my wives, who had advanced the soul arts.

The children hadn’t learned the soul arts and couldn’t enter by choice.

But somehow I felt a fourth pressure.

I barely held out through the third, but with the fourth added, my eyes finally fluttered shut.

I could no longer endure the fierce drowsiness boring into the mind-space.

‘N-no!’

A scream of “no” spilled out from my heart.

***

I jolted awake, and it wasn’t my familiar mind-space; it was a stone chamber.

A stone chamber carved with stone tablets engraved with the children’s figures.

“What is this? Something changed again.”

It felt like something had changed as my realm rose this time.

I could see the figures of the children and my wives carved in relief inside the stone chamber, and the newly added figure of Zihwa as well.

The strange thing was that the stone tablets bearing my wives and Zihwa were shining golden.

“What does this mean? Ah—could it be?”

It seemed like this indicated the beings who were currently inside my mind-space and the venoms.

I thought my wives had brought one of the children in, but apparently they’d brought Zihwa instead.

But I couldn’t see my wives or Zihwa.

In the small stone chamber, neither my wives nor Zihwa were visible.

“Where are they?”

I’d thought I’d get caught and hear a long scolding from my wives, but they were nowhere to be seen.

When I looked around, another change in the stone chamber caught my eye.

On one side of the stone chamber, there seemed to be a passage leading outside.

It was dark, but on one side of the chamber, which was lit by something like night pearls, I saw an entrance letting in light.

“A passage formed?”

I hurried that way; it led to a long corridor.

I moved through it and saw the outside.

When I stepped out, it was my familiar mind-space.

A tropical jungle.

When I looked back, something like a temple was standing there; it seemed my wide stone slab landmark had been changed into this.

It felt as if my statue and mind-space had been integrated.

At that moment, I sensed my wives approaching with light footwork from afar.

The great aura felt in the sky was surely Zihwa.

When I looked that way, human-formed Zihwa was flying with wings spread from her back, like an angel.

‘Haaah!’

That must be a human-form Level 2 or something like that.

Zihwa had liked the idea of power, so upon hearing I refused, it felt like she’d decided to help my wives.

I slipped out from the stone chamber and dashed to the opposite side from my wives.

Keeping my presence hidden as much as possible.

But my wives were closing too fast, so I couldn’t get far; I had to scramble up a nearby tree and draw on my abilities.

‘If I get caught, it’s hours of nagging!’

I climbed the tree and drew on Sister Jeokwol’s ability.

An ability to blend with the surroundings.

Soon I was clinging to a big tree, becoming like the tree bark.

‘I’ll stay like this until my wives give up.’

Holding my breath as much as possible and pretending to be tree bark, I watched the four go into the stone chamber, then come out and look for me.

Their voices continued as they spoke.

“He’s not here?”

“Not here.”

“Not here either. He’s definitely hiding somewhere.”

“Let’s split up and search.”

“Got it.”

My wives and Zihwa began searching everywhere for me.

“So-ryong, hiding is useless.”

“That’s right. Master, come out at once. If you come out now, we’ll forgive you.”

“What’s this? You’re forgiving him?”

“Well, if we say we’ll forgive him, won’t he come out?”

“Ah...”

Honestly, I almost went out because they said they’d forgive me, but—no way.

I had the feeling they wouldn’t actually forgive me. After a long time combing every corner, my wives and Zihwa gathered again in front of the temple.

Were they going to give up?

“Couldn’t find him?”

“I couldn’t. That side is forest—I didn’t find him.”

“That side is a flower field; he wasn’t there either.”

“The opposite side is the sea; I couldn’t find him there either.”

Hearing there were banana groves and a flower field in my mind-space, I thought there must be things I didn’t know had formed.

“...It’d be nice if we could get help...”

“But the soul arts...”

“If it’s that sort of problem, I can help. Aren’t we all spirit beasts—divine beasts, monster beasts?”

“Then please do.”

“I’ll go too.”

“Understood.”

After some whispering rather than loud talk, the presences of Hwa-eun and Zihwa vanished.

‘What? Why did Hwa-eun leave?’

Since the Princess and Gun Hye-rin were remaining, it didn’t feel like they were giving up.

But for some reason, Hwa-eun and Zihwa had disappeared.

They had left the mind-space entirely, so I had no idea what scheme they were up to, and it made me anxious—then, after a moment—

I felt someone entering the mind-space again.

– Rrrrrr.

“Kyaa! W-what is that?”

“Th-there’s something else forming. This is... strange.”

The space shook at the same time.

In the far distance, a desert appeared, and next to it a great stone mountain rose.

‘Huh, that’s...?’

That desert was a space that had appeared in Cheongwol’s mind-space.

The stone mountain that appeared beside it was where we had registered Mama Hoja .

A little later, I could see two women walking from afar.

A big-busted beauty in her thirties and a boyish older sister with scars here and there.

I’d only seen them once, but how could I forget the two?

It was Cheongwol and Mama Hoja .

– Grrrr. 『What? You want help finding So-ryong?』

[ It seems Ryong is playing a prank. ]

“I’m sorry, Mother. Please help us.”

[ Heh heh, very well. ]

So that was what they’d been talking about earlier—apparently Zihwa had helped teach the children the soul arts so they could enter my mind-space by their own will.

It seemed my wives had made up their minds.

They were going to find me no matter what, with help.

Then—

The mind-space rumbled and shook again; in the far distance, a lava field rose, and a mountain.

A dark place where the sun had set formed.

A red moon rose in that sky, and the sky grew even bluer.

In the bright places, a blazing sun appeared.

And the plants suddenly brimmed with even more vitality.

‘W-what is this?’

The mind-space was no different from reality, but I could clearly tell it wasn’t reality.

Yet each time the mind-space shook, the space quivered and life force surged up.

It felt like a kind of high-resolution screen was turning into the real world.

The scent of trees surged into my nose.

– Rumble.

Dark clouds gathered in the far distance.

Soon, rain began to pour there.

And from the direction where my wives had appeared, other children revealed themselves.

Cho—now grown and a young lady—and Hyang and Bini, who were still in maiden form.

The little brats Moji and Soji.

The gluttonous young lady Hwayang, and Yo-hwa walking with elegant steps.

Cheong-yu Sojeo, and Hongbi, who had recently awakened from sleep, in the form of a young girl.

Even Sister Jeokwol in her red, flamboyant clothes.

After them came Seol, Bing, and Dong, and even Orange and Yeondu, Heukhwa, Baekhwa, Hwanji, and Hwana.

Every spirit creature I had registered gathered in human form before the temple.

‘This is a disaster.’

It seemed the conclusion was that it would be hard to evade my wives’ hands.

Even if not my wives, among the children, Cheongwol or Cho, Hyang, Bini, Cheong-yu Sojeo, and the snake children could all sense temperature; they could tell where I was hiding.

It felt like the destiny of doom was about to arrive.

As I closed my eyes to accept my fate, I felt someone entering the mind-space again.

– Rrrrrr.

– Crack!

As the space shook again and I heard something split, my wives and children suddenly turned semi-transparent.

Me too.

‘W-what is this?’

In that instant, Zihwa, who had been flying swiftly from afar, cried out in a voice of disbelief.

“W-what on earth is happening!? How is the Peach Garden Map here? Don’t tell me this space was the Peach Garden Map? You! Come out at once!”