218
The world is full of lunatics.
When I say lunatics, I make no distinction between men and women. The human species itself is crawling with deranged individuals, so why would I sort them by sex?
In that sense, a woman who falls for the man who violated her is a crazy bitch, no question.
'He screwed her and she begs him to marry her? Where in the world does a woman do that?'
Even if the unorthodox sects of the martial world follow the law of the jungle—favoring the strong and respecting those stronger than oneself—as a woman who was violated without consent, there is no reason whatsoever to fall for the man.
'Why the hell are they clinging to me?'
Still, I had to find a reason. Without one, I simply could not make logical sense of this situation.
"Please let me bear your child!"
"Please let me care for your child!"
Even as I combined the Cloud Dragon Great Eight Forms of Kunlun with the Heavenly Demon Divine Art and kicked off the ground at full speed, racing southward, I had to grasp the true intentions of the two women chasing me.
As for why these two old demonesses, who wanted to shackle me with their own existence, had developed feelings for me—I didn't even want to guess.
"Fuck, is it because I'm too handsome?"
Absorbing yin through the technique had accumulated a fair amount of yin energy, giving me a refined appearance rather than a ruggedly masculine one, and I'd never heard complaints from women about my looks.
Did they fall for my face? No chance. I'd used the Body Transformation Art to subtly alter my features from their original form. I was hiding my true identity behind the face and build of my early thirties, aged up a little.
"Or is it because my bedroom arts are just that outstanding?"
Paeng Yuwol's case suddenly came to mind. There was a precedent where, despite being violated by a brute of a man named Chu Dae-gwang, she'd fallen for me thanks to the sheer prowess of my manhood.
But back then, I at least pretended to love Paeng Yuwol. This time? Love my ass. I'd subdued them with fists and kicks, then violated them.
"Or because my martial arts are too strong?"
It was less that I was powerful and more that the beings whose inner energy I drew upon were powerful, but neither of them knew those details.
"Or because they're Demonic Cultists?"
The thinking of Demonic Cult members veers slightly off common sense. The Demonic Sword Consort and Thunder Demon veered more than slightly—they'd gone way off—but fundamentally, Demonic Cultists are beings you cannot judge by ordinary standards.
"A man violates you, and instead of snapping the Lust Demon's neck—which wouldn't even be enough—they try to throw a noose around it and claim the master bedroom. Ugh, terrifying."
Rustle.
Having put enough distance between us, I slipped into the forest and concealed myself for a moment. I needed some rest to settle the inner energy I'd siphoned from Thunder Demon and the Demonic Sword Consort.
'They came right where I led them. Now, let's have a listen.'
Thud.
The two women landed in the clearing and scanned their surroundings. Hidden inside a hollow tree, melded with the shadows, I pricked up my ears toward their conversation.
"...Lady Thunder Demon. Why did you turn back?"
The Demonic Sword Consort used honorifics with Thunder Demon. Judging by the ages known to the outside world, the Demonic Sword Consort could justify speaking down to Thunder Demon, but with only the two of them present, dropping formalities would have been a breach of etiquette.
"You know as well as I do."
Thunder Demon, however, answered politely, staying true to her persona as the newly-adult successor of the Thunder Demon title.
"...Sigh, what are you referring to?"
"The Golden Demon."
I tilted my head at Thunder Demon's words. It was a term I didn't recognize, which threw me off a little, but from the context, it seemed to refer to me.
Not No Demon, not Lust Demon, not Sword Demon—Golden Demon. What a grandiose and magnificent alias.
'Might not be me, so let's not get ahead of ourselves.'
"No Demon, Lust Demon, Sword-Talk. They aren't different people. They're all one man, traveling the Central Plains in different guises. And that man is the Transcendent Demonic Cultist."
'So they figured it out?'
I cursed myself for letting my identity slip.
The Transcendent Demonic Cultist—meaning the being who, as Sword-Talk, had wielded the Heavenly Demon Divine Art to the ultimate pinnacle of the Profound Realm. They'd realized that this same person was the No Demon who followed the Little Princess, and also the Lust Demon.
'This is going to get annoying.'
It wasn't a matter requiring me to silence them permanently or anything, but I was starting to get a sense of why these two women were trying to latch onto me.
First, the Demonic Sword Consort, Wang So-hyeon.
"Yes. I knew that the Sword-Talk of Sichuan was the Lust Demon, and that the Little Princess's Lust Demon was the same man. I also confirmed his true power. I was defeated by him. Just as I boasted loudly to the martial world, he violated my body."
The Demonic Sword Consort drew her sword from its scabbard. The blade had bent somewhat from my pummeling, but she sheathed it in Sword Aura over the warped section.
"From the moment I was defeated by the sword and violated, I was already his woman...!"
'So a woman past her prime, desperate to marry, finally met a man who could match her sword every single day, and now she's completely lost her mind.'
It was pitiable, but I couldn't help my fury that I had become the target. I was so incensed I almost regretted winning with the sword.
"Your sentiments align closely with mine...!"
Thunder Demon seized the Demonic Sword Consort's hand.
"Do you know who was behind the attack on the Hwangbo Clan? Do you know who the Soul-Seizing Crashing Fist is, the one who violated all seven Hwangbo sisters and fled? It was none other than the Lust Demon!"
'She knows everything?'
I'd figured she might know, but I never expected her to actually know.
"It was there that I realized who I ought to serve. And I realized that everything I'd thought up until now was wrong. The true successor to lead the Demonic Cult...!"
Boom—CRACKLE!
Lightning flashed across a cloudless sky. I reflexively flattened myself deeper inside the tree.
"...is not the Eldest Prince, but the son that the Little Princess will bear to the No Demon!!"
'This bitch?'
Her thinking was so correct I almost wanted to applaud. And I immediately grasped Thunder Demon's true motive.
'She was planning to live out her days as wet nurse to the Eldest Prince's child, but since Si-a looks likely to bear a child sooner, she's switching sides to us, is that it?'
If Lee Si-a were going to bear the child of some mediocre man, Thunder Demon would have stayed loyal to the Eldest Prince to the bitter end.
But who was the man Lee Si-a wanted to impregnate her?
The Sky-Soaring Lust Demon!
'Stronger, more cunning, and smarter than any Lust Demon in the world, with the world's finest cock for bedchamber work.'
Simply combining my many excellences with Lee Si-a's intellect and beauty would be enough for the next Heavenly Demon to command the world alongside a hundred thousand demonic practitioners. Thunder Demon, who had raised Lee Si-a in place of her birth mother, seemed to want to live on as wet nurse to the Heavenly Demon.
'But there's one problem.'
Even if I could accept the Flame Demon and Ice Demon as handmaidens, there was a single reason I could never accept Thunder Demon, even as a wet nurse.
'If a daughter is born, she'll kill her.'
Thunder Demon was obsessive about the Heavenly Demon having to be male.
So if Lee Si-a's child turned out to be a girl rather than a boy, Thunder Demon would abuse that girl, knowingly or not. If the child's sex could be confirmed before birth, and it was a girl, Thunder Demon would use the power of her Heaven-Shaking Thunder Divine Art to erase her before she ever saw the light of this world.
Of course, it might not happen.
The future Thunder Demon and the current Thunder Demon might think differently. In truth, she hadn't done anything strange while raising Lee Si-a.
'With a legitimate heir like the Eldest Prince already in place, there was no reason to keep a Little Princess with such a large age gap in check.'
Lee Si-a had received Thunder Demon's care without issue thanks to the existence of Grand Duke Ju-ji. But if Lee Si-a had been born before the Eldest Prince, she might not even exist in this world by now.
'She's just gotten old and her thinking is stuck in a bygone era.'
They say habits picked up at three last until eighty. I can handle people who try to kill me, but I cannot purely accept as an ally someone who might kill my child.
The Demonic Sword Consort. Thunder Demon.
Was their heavy interest in me advantageous? Not in the slightest. There are plenty of women in the world.
So what should I do? I resolved to subdue the two who were chasing me, first of all.
"...Very well, then let us join forces in common purpose."
"Agreed. We are not followers of Sky-Soaring or Earth Qilin—we are comrades of one mind."
"The Original Marriage Sword Demon!"
"The Serving Thunder Demon!"
A chill ran down my spine at the sight of the two women enthusiastically crafting new aliases for themselves. Names that sounded quite plausible on the surface, but in truth meant they desired marriage or longed to serve.
'Should I be grateful they aren't calling themselves Sky-Soaring's Female Sword Demon or something?'
I had to count it as a first blessing that they weren't styling themselves as Sky-Soaring's Female Sword Demon or Sky-Soaring's Female Thunder Demon. I made a decision on how to deal with the two, who were not my enemies for the moment.
'I'll have to ask Lee Si-a.'
Matters of the Demonic Cult should be brought to the one responsible for the Demonic Cult—that was only natural.
If Lee Si-a accepted taking in the Demonic Sword Consort and Thunder Demon, who both wished to become my women, I would entrust the two to her. It was absolutely not because it was a hassle or I didn't want the responsibility.
I recalled the Blood Cult Leader's words again.
- Compare a thing with its parts replaced, like a refurbished item, to something freshly made, still warm and brand-new. The latter is obviously better. If both women are equally beautiful, a woman whose body and mind are even one year younger trumps one who has returned to youth.
Sagong Hee, Lee Si-a, Dokgo Yeon, Paeng Yuwol.
All four put together were younger than the Demonic Sword Consort and Thunder Demon combined. I wanted to share fresh, innocent love with those who were purely in the bloom of youth.
"For now, we are only two, but our comrades will multiply in the future."
"Yes, let us search the White Path martial world as well. We'll gather women who were violated by the Lust Demon and demand he take responsibility—we'll hunt the Lust Demon. Indeed, if we're to give it a name, how about the Chase-the-Lecher Women's Corps?"
"A fine name. Lady Thunder Demon, if you don't mind, I shall take the lead of the Chase-the-Lecher Women's Corps."
They were forming an entire organization to hunt me down. What terrifying women.
'Still, you two are a no.'
A single taste might be one thing, but I could never tolerate women who sought to hold me accountable as a husband. I could be their Lust Friend, but I had not the slightest desire to become a husband.
A smooth relationship—lightly enjoyed and lightly parted.
'Ryu Seo-si is perfect in that regard.'
How wonderful it was to enjoy each other without any intention of binding the other. I picked up a long tree branch lying beside me.
'So first, let's beat those two down and think later.'
Both were Harmony Realm martial artists, so even a solid thrashing wouldn't leave any major injuries.
Rustle.
I revealed myself directly. The two, who had been conversing with grave expressions, lit up the moment they saw me.
"My lord!"
"My master!"
"Do you desire my cock, or do you desire the being that I am?"
At my question, neither could answer immediately. If they'd just said they wanted my cock, I would have felt more at ease, but these two were trying to offer their hearts along with their bodies.
"This is my final offer. I can be a friend of the Way of Lust who enjoys your beds, but I have not the slightest wish to live with either of you under the same roof!"
"Why?!"
"Because you're old!!"
My master and the Blood Cult Leader had told me. In any situation, the one thing you must never say to a woman is that she's aged.
'Forgive me.'
But to shake them off, I committed the taboo of all taboos against women. The two women's faces crumpled in immense shock, and they began to emit the energy of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art.
"You prefer young things, then?! Girls who are barely first-rate, peak-level at best!"
"Isn't that obvious? You two would hate it too if I were some old man who'd reverted more than two gapja in age, wouldn't you?"
"That's not true!"
"You are a man more than worthy of my service!"
"Ugh, I'm really going to lose my mind. After all I've said, shouldn't you be disgusted with me and leave?"
Better to cleanly settle this here than drag two marriage-crazed demonic practitioners all the way to Chengdu.
"Fine, it's a deal. If you defeat me with martial arts, I'll permit you to become my women."
"!!"
The corners of both demonic practitioners' lips curled upward. I wondered if I'd said something foolish, but as long as I didn't lose, there was no problem.
As long as it wasn't the Kunlun Sage, I wouldn't lose to anyone.
'The Demonic Sword Consort and I are the same, after all.'
Both of us wanted to find a partner of the opposite sex who was stronger than ourselves and be together with them. The difference was that the Demonic Sword Consort wanted to serve me, while I wanted to defeat the Kunlun Sage by force and violate her.
Ultimately, the easiest and most powerful persuasion against demonic practitioners was martial arts.
"Martial arts! Age! Status! Body! Seduction! Do you know what overcomes all of those conditions?! Overwhelming power!!"
Since I couldn't let myself be fucked by twice or three times as many women and made to father children, I drew up every ounce of the inner energy I'd siphoned from the two of them at full force.
"If you can lay this 'me' low, I'll gladly surrender my cock to you!"
"That presence... could it be?!"
"Ah, it truly is you, the Transcendent Demonic Cultist...!!"
Whoooosh—
A golden current of energy began to erupt around me.
The internal energy art rooted in the Heavenly Demon Divine Art.
And the martial technique I would use—just one.
'Wife, protect me.'
The Slashing Demon Sword.
"Come! If you want to be my women, then defeat me and violate me!!"
To protect the peace of my household, I would defeat these demonic practitioners with the power of the wife I loved.