"L-Lord Li Ke!"
Seeing Li Ke suddenly wake up, Mitsuri Kanroji couldn't help but cry out in surprise. Although she had come into the room specifically to wake him up, when it actually came down to doing it, she couldn't help but feel incredibly embarrassed.
After all, this kind of thing was truly difficult for her to handle—she was still a young maiden, so such feelings were completely understandable.
Li Ke looked at Mitsuri, whose expression seemed proactive yet carried a hint of complex hesitation. Arching an eyebrow, he took her hand and pulled her straight into his embrace once again. He kissed her light-cherry colored lips, tasting her soft yet powerful tongue.
Mitsuri's tongue was surprisingly large, which contrasted sharply with the adorable way she usually spoke—a trait Li Ke found highly amusing.
However, the most fascinating part was the distinct taste she possessed.
It was a faint, gentle sweetness, underneath which lingered a subtle, fleeting scent of cherry blossoms that seemed to exist and vanish all at once.
To be honest, this discovery genuinely delighted Li Ke.
The girls in this world might not be as sweet as Tsunade, but this trait where their bodily fluids carry the taste of what they frequently eat really makes one think of rather inappropriate things, he mused.
Generally speaking, when someone says a person tastes like what they eat, that kind of description is usually reserved for cooking ingredients. But if applied literally, it made this particular world look incredibly grim.
After all, this was a world where demons actively hunted and devoured humans.
Yet, it truly seemed to be the case here.
Li Ke didn't know the exact reason behind it, but that didn't stop him from enjoying the perk and thoroughly devouring these girls. Of course, it wasn't devouring them in a literal sense, but rather a complete, clean sweep of physical intimacy, just like right now.
Unlike Shinobu Kochou, who had already mastered how to kiss under Li Ke's guidance, kissing Mitsuri still carried the frantic panic of an inexperienced maiden, making the technique objectively inferior to Shinobu's. However, this girl's physical endurance was on a completely different level. Whenever Shinobu would have already collapsed from exhaustion, Mitsuri was still going strong, continuously locked in a fierce struggle with Li Ke, alternating between resistance and eager compliance.
Furthermore, Li Ke noticed another unique trait that set Mitsuri apart from the other girls.
This girl produced an incredible amount of saliva!
Indeed, Mitsuri's mouth watered heavily, though he wasn't sure if it was because of her massive appetite or some other reason. When Li Ke finally parted from her, a thin, unbroken silver thread of saliva stretched out between their lips, refusing to snap until the exact moment Li Ke opened his mouth to speak.
"So, it was Shinobu who sent you here, right?"
Li Ke chuckled softly, pinching Mitsuri's flushed cheek. He couldn't help but marvel at the lung capacity of the girls in this world. He had just kissed her for a solid three minutes, and even he was slightly out of breath. Mitsuri, however, was not panting at all. Even the crimson flush on her face was purely from the sheer embarrassment of the kiss, not from a lack of oxygen.
This realization genuinely amused him.
"U-Um... yes."
Mitsuri had originally planned to keep it a secret, but looking at the playful, knowing smirk on Li Ke's face, she ultimately nodded in confession.
"I thought so. It seems she either wants me to permanently resurrect Kagaya Ubuyashiki, or she's trying to get me to agree to his request."
Li Ke rested his chin in his hand. For Shinobu Kochou, the most important person in the world was undoubtedly her deceased older sister. While Kagaya was a leader she deeply trusted—and someone she was willing to fight to the death for under his guidance—the primary reason she stayed was because the Demon Slayer Corps had taken her sister in. Furthermore, the Corps' ultimate goal perfectly aligned with her own desires.
However, since his resurrection ability was subject to such strict limitations, this kind of dilemma was bound to happen.
"If it's just to revive Kagaya Ubuyashiki, using you as leverage makes the price far too steep, Mitsuri. In my heart, he isn't anywhere near as important as you are."
Li Ke sat up, pulling Mitsuri securely into his embrace before gently rubbing her head.
"Bottom line, I'm not going to resurrect people on a whim. But if you insist on this, I won't stop you either. Ideally, if Kagaya Ubuyashiki wants to live, it's best if he comes to strike a deal with me himself."
Li Ke spoke with absolute seriousness.
As for taking advantage of the situation to make a move on Amane Ubuyashiki...
He would never resort to something so incredibly trashy. Trading a wife's body to buy back her husband's life—that tactic was just way too... way too Cao Cao.
A man has to draw the line somewhere!
While Li Ke didn't mind pursuing a widow, it didn't mean he was willing to indulge in that specific kind of scenario. Besides, if a wife sold herself to resurrect her husband, her lingering affection for him would inevitably trigger a mountain of emotional baggage once he was back. He might even end up getting cuckolded down the line.
Why put himself through that headache?
More importantly, the couple had already been fully prepared to die together in the flames. There was absolutely no reason to force a netorari plot here.
"But..."
Mitsuri bit her lower lip. To her, Kagaya Ubuyashiki was like an older brother. If Li Ke were willing to fully restore him, she would be absolutely overjoyed.
Regrettably, Li Ke's resurrection powers came with massive constraints.
There was a strict cap on it.
"That's just how it is. I won't accept you sacrificing your body for an outsider," Li Ke said righteously, raising a single finger. "If it's for your own immediate family or close friends, that's one thing I can tolerate."
"But Master Ubuyashiki has been so incredibly kind to me! And Sister Shinobu mentioned that we only need to grant him ten years of life—just enough time for him to see his children reach adulthood."
Shinobu and Mitsuri had never intended to demand too much. The entire Ubuyashiki bloodline was tragically short-lived due to the curse of Muzan Kibutsuji. Almost no one in their family ever managed to survive past their thirties.
Because of this, the family members not only married incredibly early, but they also had to choose their wives exclusively from a lineage of shrines and priestesses just to extend their remaining lifespans.
As a result, neither Shinobu nor Mitsuri expected Kagaya Ubuyashiki to live a long, full life. They only hoped he could get another ten years or so—just enough to witness his young children grow into adulthood.
"Even ten years of his life isn't worth trading away your body, Mitsuri. Besides, you already belong to me. How can you use my own property to strike a bargain with me?"
Li Ke playfully pinched Mitsuri's nose, looking down at the silly, incredibly innocent, and kind-hearted girl. As her face flushed a deep crimson, he pulled her curvaceous body directly against him, burying his face into her chest to take a deep breath of her distinct, cherry-blossom-scented fragrance.
At that moment, he couldn't help but mentally give a thumbs-up to whoever had designed her Corps uniform. Pressing his face against her, he could feel the incredible smoothness of her skin and the purest scent of a young maiden.
Yet, he felt a slight wave of helplessness. There was absolutely nothing wrong with the girls who loved him being deeply compassionate.
It was just that while he respected Kagaya Ubuyashiki, he didn't respect the man enough to sacrifice his own life-force for him.
The only reason he had been willing to resurrect Kanae Kocho was because she was Shinobu's older sister. Furthermore, given how deeply the sisters cared for one another, he was highly confident he could eventually bring Kanae into his harem as well, meaning his resources essentially stayed within his own inner circle.
If Kagaya hadn't died and Shinobu had simply asked him to use his dragon fire to heal the man's regular illness, he wouldn't have refused. That would just be lifting a finger.
But lending out his actual lifespan was out of the question.
Even if it meant turning down Mitsuri's eager advances tonight, he refused to extend the lifespan of an outsider. Allowing Kagaya to live a few extra days to settle his final affairs was already the peak of his generosity.
In reality, if some entity ever tried to strip away his abilities, he could willingly surrender almost all his powers—except for his world-traveling capabilities and this conceptual command over lifespan.
One represented infinite possibilities, and the other ensured the exact same thing.
"I... I belong to Lord Li Ke..."
Mitsuri's eyes spun like literal cartoon spirals. Having never heard such intensely passionate words from anyone before, her head swam entirely, and the physical strength completely drained from her body.
"Hehehe, so since you walked in here tonight, I'm not letting you leave..."
Li Ke chuckled softly, sliding his hand under Mitsuri's clothing. But the very instant his hand brushed against her smooth, fair skin, the door to his room was thrown wide open. Reactively, Li Ke yanked her shirt closed, completely shielding her stunning figure from view.
However...
The moment Li Ke looked up to see who had just broken in, he realized the situation was about to become far less entertaining.
Standing at the entrance was Amane Ubuyashiki.
Stepping inside, Amane offered a profoundly elegant bow to greet Li Ke before speaking in a slow, calculated tone.
"Please forgive my unannounced intrusion. However, the stakes are far too high, leaving me with no choice but to come forward so boldly."
Her voice was entirely calm and steady. Yet, the very next sentence that left her lips nearly struck Li Ke completely dead in his tracks, right as his lower body was still pressed firmly against Mitsuri's.
"I have not come to strike a bargain for you to resurrect my husband, Kagaya Ubuyashiki. I am here to negotiate a deal for you to accept my late husband's terms and assume the role of the Leader of the Demon Slayer Corps. The price I offer is my own body, as well as my daughters."
The moment Amane finished speaking, Li Ke felt his rising passion instantly freeze over. Mitsuri's jaw dropped so wide she could only emit a series of completely unintelligible noises.
Evidently, she had been scared entirely out of her wits.
Li Ke was in a highly similar state of shock.
"Uh... My Lady, while it's true that I build a harem, I usually draw the line at doing things while a woman's husband is still technically around..."
Li Ke slowly raised his hand, desperately trying to clarify his moral boundaries.
He certainly appreciated mature, married women, but he preferred widows whose husbands had been dead for a very long time!
Definitely not a scenario like this!
From the very beginning, he hadn't harbored a single inappropriate thought toward Amane Ubuyashiki.