Li Wei gazed into Tsukika’s eyes—eyes shimmering with hopeful expectation and a faint trace of timidity. At her question, he felt a fleeting moment of disorientation.
A distant memory surfaced…
He had once made a similar promise to another girl.
But she never lived to see the future he vowed to give her.
Somehow, Tsukika’s gaze now felt hauntingly familiar to that girl from his dreams.
Yet he knew: Tsukika’s fragility was an act.
The girl he’d promised had long perished in the city where the Undying was crowned and Tsukika was born—a city where he buried her with his own hands.
Li Wei smoothed the flicker of complex emotion from his face and gave a calm nod.
Not hesitation. Not doubt. He was silently etching the promise into his heart.
Hadn’t he fought tooth and nail to grow stronger—just to never face that helpless despair again?
That naive boy had walked step by step to this day for that conviction: he lost his power protecting others, and now, for protection’s sake, he would reclaim it.
But this time was different.
Not for some heavy burden of duty. Simply… for his own life.
His gaze settled gently on his daughter.
Tsukika watched the subtle shifts cross Li Wei’s face, then spoke again:
“So the Chosen Hero has made his decision.”
“But Yue Lin’s poor, weak mother—who’s also her inseparable weakness—surely falls under your promised protection, right?”
“?”
Li Wei studied her a long moment before murmuring, “…When you say ‘weak,’ do you mean the kind who casually twists off a Demon Lord Legion officer’s head? Or the kind who levels cities and splits mountains?”
“Don’t nitpick. Just say: will you protect me or not?” Tsukika pressed.
Li Wei blinked. “If you ever *were* weak enough to need my protection…”
“Mm?”
“I’d tie you up first.”
“And then?”
“Bully me like I bullied you? Or… do what the Chosen Hero did that first time?”
“I’d just stuff your socks in your mouth,” Li Wei said flatly.
“How cruel~ You seemed to enjoy it quite a bit back then,” Tsukika pouted.
*Every time she “slipped,” he definitely reacted.*
“Is it the white stockings initiating that bothers you? I’ll be more careful next time!” she amended brightly.
Li Wei: “???”
*This Demon Lord’s priorities are seriously off. And she’s focusing on the wrong thing entirely.*
“Anything else the Chosen Hero wishes to do?”
*Like turning your panties into a slingshot to smash your own windows?*
He swallowed the thought. *She lives in my house.*
“But once the Chosen Hero has your ‘revenge’… you’ll still protect me, right? No matter what ‘revenge’ you choose, I can endure it,” Tsukika said, voice trembling with feigned vulnerability.
Li Wei drawled, “Who knows the answer to something that hasn’t happened? We’ll see when the day comes.”
Tsukika’s expression faltered. She sighed softly. “What a pity.”
*A pity?*
*Yes… a pity you’re the Demon Lord.*
Li Wei watched her seemingly dejected face, heart unsettled.
*If only she weren’t…*
Suddenly, Tsukika lifted her face. That breathtakingly beautiful maiden-form Demon Lord wore not sorrow—but a mischievous grin that spiked his blood pressure.
“I truly didn’t expect this~”
Her crimson eyes glinted with unrepentant mockery.
“The Chosen Hero didn’t flatly refuse? You’re actually *considering* protecting this Demon Lord?”
Li Wei froze.
*Since when…?*
Even to counter her, he should’ve snapped a sharp refusal. Yet his instinct had faltered.
*Is this Yue Lin’s influence?*
He realized his stance toward Tsukika had shifted again—without him noticing.
Guilt had lingered. Now… was he slowly accepting this bond with the Demon Lord? Even superficially?
Strangely, no pain. No struggle.
*Of course. Since shedding my mission, I’m no longer humanity’s guiding light.*
*What you love…*
*Never mind. That phrase doesn’t fit.*
Before Li Wei could dwell further, Tsukika pressed on with a wicked smirk:
“Maa~ I’d planned to get a clean refusal first, then play with you until you admitted your stubbornness and agreed.”
Li Wei frowned. “That confident?”
“Or… confident in *you*?” Tsukika smiled. “Don’t forget—I hold quite a bit of compromising material on the Chosen Hero.”
“Release those starkly contrasting moments of yours… who knows the uproar?”
“To protect your image before your daughter? You’d help me, wouldn’t you?”
She theatrically produced a recording magic stone. Li Wei’s composure shattered—*white stockings tied in bows on both ends, Day One.*
*Overestimated her decency again.*
Earlier, when Tsukika looked at him with hopeful eyes… for a split second, he’d almost believed it could be real.
*Just an illusion.*
*This Demon Lord would never let herself become that weak.*
Li Wei didn’t notice the fleeting shadow of loneliness that crossed Tsukika’s smiling face as she turned away, splashing water behind her.
*His hesitation pleased me… but I still wish you’d promise more firmly.*
After their familiar bickering, Li Wei stilled his mind and embraced the gift his daughter offered.
Unconsciously, Yue Lin had achieved the path to bodily transcendence he’d long sought.
He felt life energy from heaven and earth seeping gently into her—strengthening her, though faintly, with much dissipating unnoticed.
If he could unlock this energy’s secret, forge it into active cultivation for Yue Lin… one day, she might resist the “Curse” on her own, no tricks needed.
*This is likely why Tsukika restored my power—letting me hold a threat.*
He never doubted Tsukika’s love for Yue Lin.
—He saw no flaw. Chose not to doubt.
Li Wei lowered all defenses before Tsukika’s eyes, letting his willpower gently envelop Yue Lin’s small frame.
The Demon Lord—a mortal threat to humanity—now the very being this former strongest human could trust with his life. *How strange…*
The thought vanished as he immersed himself in the phenomenon unfolding within his daughter.
His will touched secrets invisible to the eye.
—
From the converging life energy, Li Wei sensed a deeper energy… and heard a “voice.”
The whisper of wind across heaven and earth,
distant thunder rumbling in the sky,
violent melodies rippling across water,
echoes cascading through valleys,
forests and soil rustling in reply…
Countless echoes of life and nature wove into a wondrous, intoxicating frequency.
And at its heart: Yue Lin’s breath.
In slumber, her soft, steady breathing synced with nature’s rhythm—until she seemed part of it.
“Breathing… frequency…”
His will brushed her small body.
*That ethereal feeling when I held her wasn’t illusion.*
*Her subconscious breathing rhythm was merging her with nature.*
Life energy was nature’s gift.
But beyond it flowed something deeper—the true prize:
—the origin of power. “Source Essence.”
He could command heaven and earth to move it… yet never truly touch it.
*“My will couldn’t capture it not because it was absent… but because…”*
A wry thought surfaced: *“We were never on the same wavelength.”*
He recalled lonely meditations where energy swirled around him, jubilant, mocking:
*“We threw a party. Guess who wasn’t invited?”*
Now—the fog parted. Light dawned.
Li Wei’s breath shifted.
Instantly, his body grew ethereal like Yue Lin’s.
Breath guided blood, vibration, flesh—all aligning with nature’s pulse.
Life energy and elusive power seeped into his parched frame.
*Merely passive reception. Far from enough.*
Then his refined willpower merged with his flesh, vibrating at that special frequency, syncing with his breath.
His expanding will spread outward, claiming the space around him.
Passivity shattered. Nature’s rhythm now *followed* his breath—accelerating to match him.
If their connection were two gears: once nature lazily turned his; now his will forced nature to spin wildly in response.
After just three long breaths, strange golden patterns—unlike the Source Blood Imprint—bloomed across Li Wei’s skin.
A scorching, immense power surged through him, filling every fiber.
Tsukika witnessed the miracle of Li Wei’s transformation with her own eyes. Even she could not hide her astonishment, gazing at the man who seemed to glow.
She had placed great expectations on him—and not only had he met them, he had once again surpassed her imagination.
After a brief moment of surprise, a broad, scornful smirk spread across the girl’s breathtakingly beautiful face.
—So this was the so-called strongest, discarded by humanity like a broken tool simply for losing his power.
Tsukika suddenly found certain people utterly pitiful and laughable.
Even if he lost his status panel and was cast into the abyss overnight—so what?
This man still slew Annihilation.
Moreover…
He remained the genius beyond mortal comprehension, unreachable by ordinary humans.
She had always known all he lacked was an opportunity.
Yet some idiots had eagerly pushed him away with their own hands?
...
“In Tiffany, do you think I’m an idiot?” Vivian snapped, her voice tight. “Do you really think I’d go look for him? I’m just in a bad mood—needed to get some air.”
In Dawn’s camp, the sword saint known as Veiled Moon was no longer the heroic figure of legend. Vivian’s armor hung in tatters, stained with blood, her expression flustered as she glared at Tiffany.
“Uh… Are you *sure* it’s just your mood?” Tiffany asked weakly. “Not your brain?”
She wanted to add: *You’re not just foolish—you’ve gone full idiot.*
But seeing Vivian’s flushed, furious face, Tiffany wisely covered her mouth. She swallowed the words about the blood still seeping from Vivian’s wounds, watched her storm out, then slumped onto the medical bed and stared silently at the ceiling.
“I really envy Vivian,” she murmured resentfully. “Even with the same injuries… do people with less brains heal faster?”
Recalling the assault on the Demon King Citadel sent a chill down her spine. Without Mr. Viret’s last-minute intervention—and the sheer strength of the three high-tier fighters—the entire raid might have ended in total party wipe.
They’d “cleared” it, yes. But the outcome felt little different from crushing defeat.
Mr. Viret expended a crucial item. She got injured covering Vivian. And Vivian? Had the divine artifact Veiled Moon not shielded her, taking a full Domain technique head-on would’ve meant being carried out on a stretcher—if not under a white sheet.
The Legion also suffered heavy losses against the frenzied monster horde afterward. Mr. Viret’s face was stone-cold when he emerged.
He hadn’t yelled. Yet that silence made Tiffany even more uneasy.
There’s no such thing as a free pie. Even if Mr. Li Wei handed her one, he’d surely be plotting to turn her into the filling. How much more so with others?
“I wonder… will Vivian actually go see Mr. Li Wei? Will he be the one to snap her out of it?”
Vivian had stubbornly claimed she was “just walking,” but Tiffany knew better. Whenever Vivian faced a major setback, she’d instinctively seek Li Wei’s comfort…
Though they’d parted ways, Vivian likely hadn’t noticed—some habits had already sunk deep.
Just like how *she* always felt the urge to treat herself after Li Wei’s private lessons.
(Though her habit was deliberate—to stay alert, never to be fooled by his gentleness. He *definitely* had ulterior motives.)
Still…
Without Mr. Li Wei, leading this team was impossible. *sob*
Come back, Mr. Li Wei!
My most prized meal ticket~
Tears streamed down for no reason~
˚‧º·(˚ ˃̣̣̥᷄⌓˂̣̣̥᷅ )‧º·˚
