"You truly are a good man, just as Kagaya said."
Seeing the look on Li Ke's face, Amane Ubuyashiki couldn't help but smile slightly.
Li Ke instantly realized that this lady was likely just testing his character.
"Please rest assured, I do not mean a literal marriage," Amane sighed softly. "Although my marriage to Kagaya was arranged by our families, our bond runs incredibly deep. Even if I were to ever consider remarrying, it would only be after he has been gone for a decade or two, and I find myself entirely alone in the world with no one else to rely on."
She paused, looking directly at him.
"Therefore, you would only need to marry me in name. If you wish, I can betroth my daughters to you instead."
Her expression was dead serious, causing Li Ke to scratch his head in utter bewilderment.
He was genuinely struggling to comprehend what was happening.
"Why on earth are you going to such extremes?"
At those words, Amane immediately dropped to her knees and bowed all the way to the floor, performing a formal prostration.
"Because you are a god."
"You are a deity carrying the monumental task of saving this world. Serving you is the absolute birthright and mission of the Ubuyashiki clan—a family of high priests—as well as my own family, the Himorogi clan, who descend from a lineage of shrines and priestesses."
Li Ke stared at the woman prostrating before him. He extended a index finger and pointed to his own chest.
"Me? A god?"
Give me a break, he thought. I've never seen a god this weak in my entire life.
"The facts speak for themselves," Amane replied, her voice echoing with conviction. "Whether it is through the prophecies we have received or my husband's own innate premonitions, you are a god. If you were not, how else could you explain your sudden manifestation in this world, or the fact that you are so profoundly favored by the World Power itself?"
There were many details Amane chose to leave unsaid. The moment they originally suspected Li Ke might be a divine entity, they had immediately attempted a series of divinations. The answers they received from the gods they prayed to were uniform: the handsome young man standing before them was, without a doubt, a deity.
"Ha... fascinating. But having someone like me take over as the Leader of the Demon Slayer Corps would be an absolute disaster."
Li Ke waved his hand dismissively.
"Even if I am a god, what does that have to do with you insisting on marrying me?"
He was completely lost in their bizarre train of thought.
"My family serves as the maidens of the era. Because of this bloodline, we are granted visions of the future within our dreams," Amane explained serenely. "The Ubuyashiki clan, whom we have wedded for generations, possesses an extraordinary spiritual power of their own. Through our ancestral unions, a unique trait has manifested in their lineage: their intuition is incredibly sharp, borderline prophetic."
She took a slow breath before continuing.
"Just a moment ago, while fully awake, I witnessed several distinct futures. At the exact same time, my husband sensed the shifting tides of destiny. There is no mistake. You are a god."
"..."
Li Ke was entirely speechless.
"So what if I am a god? What do you expect to achieve? Do you plan to build a shrine and worship me? I don't exactly have the power to grant people a long life."
Li Ke shrugged his shoulders, but Amane merely gave a firm nod of agreement.
"You do, in fact, possess such an ability."
Li Ke: "???"
"In the visions we witnessed," Amane explained, "even if you do not personally slay Muzan Kibutsuji, as long as Kiriya becomes your adopted son, he will be permanently shielded from the curse. Furthermore, neither he nor any boys born to my daughters in the future will ever face the threat of the curse again. In the past, no male born to the Ubuyashiki bloodline has ever survived past the age of thirty."
She paused, her expression turning darker.
"Not only that, but Muzan Kibutsuji might not perish in this current era as he originally was meant to. He will flee instead. He will return to this land a century from now. In that specific timeline, you are the sole wildcard. As long as you assume command as the Leader of the Demon Slayer Corps, Muzan Kibutsuji will be successfully tracked down and executed. Only then can our children truly transcend the curse, bringing an end to our millennium-long destiny. Granted, there are alternate future where you do not become the Leader yet Muzan is still defeated, but those specific future are far too scarce. We simply cannot afford to gamble on such low odds."
"Therefore, we are entirely willing to pay any price to have you lead the Demon Slayer Corps."
Li Ke: "..."
I really can't communicate with these prophetic types, he thought to himself.
"Do you people truly place that much blind faith in prophecies rather than trusting your own hard work?"
Amane shook her head softly.
"We have pushed ourselves to the absolute limit for over a thousand years, yet the results have been far from ideal. Under our current predicament, we cannot even definitively verify if Muzan Kibutsuji is still within Japan."
She was completely helpless, and Kagaya was in an identical state. Faced with this harsh reality, they could do absolutely nothing except rely on Li Ke.
Li Ke had no use for ordinary wealth, nor did he care about their standard power or secret combat techniques. Meanwhile, the Ubuyashiki family strictly refused to manipulate Shinobu Kochou or Mitsuri Kanroji just to force his hand.
In Kagaya's eyes, even though Shinobu and Mitsuri were like family to him, their choices were their own. The leadership had to offer up their own sacrifices to secure a deal.
"So, you want me to become the Leader purely for this... The real question is, why should I accept? Besides, this is incredibly unfair to your four daughters, isn't it? Trading away the entire future of your four daughters just to secure a future for your one son."
Hearing that the arrangement wasn't quite the literal harem scenario he had initially envisioned, Li Ke's stance actually began to soften a bit. Agreeing to the terms would undeniably skyrocket his favorability with Shinobu, Mitsuri, Kanae Kocho, and Kanao Tsuyuri, while essentially handing him a powerful faction on a silver platter.
Yet, to be completely honest, being railroaded like this—combined with a subtle hint of moral blackmail—still left a deeply sour taste in his mouth.
"We are fully aware of how deeply unfair this is to you," Amane said, letting out a small sigh of relief. Li Ke's phrasing meant he was finally considering the offer. With him on their side, dealing with Muzan Kibutsuji or any other lingering threats would become an absolute breeze.
Even if they couldn't eliminate every single threat, it would still fulfill her ultimate wish as a mother: to watch her children grow up healthy and strong.
As for blindly relying on prophecies...
In a world where spirits, gods, and Buddhas were tangible realities, acting upon divine predictions wasn't blind superstition. It was the peak of rationality and proper judgment.
"Hah, I never said I was agreeing to this."
Li Ke curled his lip, gesturing for Amane to excuse herself.
Amane was sensible enough to take her cue, bowing gracefully before departing without bothering him further. Mitsuri hesitated for a brief moment. Although she secretly wanted to stay and continue their intimate moment, she could see that Li Ke was no longer in the mood to discuss such matters, so she quietly followed Amane out.
"What a bizarre world... calling me a god..."
Li Ke narrowed his eyes, entirely unconvinced of his own divinity.
Still, since Amane had laid out such a heavy claim, it was best to verify a few things.
Brilliant golden light points instantly coalesced within his palm. In the next breath, a profoundly gentle, beautiful woman materialized right before him.
The apparition was none other than Shinobu's deceased older sister, Kanae Kocho.
"So, why did you summon me out this time?"
Kanae Kocho looked at Li Ke with a hint of dissatisfaction in her eyes. Ever since her younger sister, Shinobu, had committed to following Li Ke, Kanae would occasionally see Shinobu's soul fly out of her body, only for Li Ke to revive her shortly after.
Consequently, she harbored quite a bit of annoyance toward this brother-in-law of hers, who clearly didn't know the first thing about being gentle with women!
"Well, I actually want to understand how the souls of the deceased perceive me. Why on earth would anyone call me a god? And more importantly, what were they thinking to actually make a radical decision like that?"
Li Ke decided to consult the spectral Kanae directly.
Kanae blinked, slightly caught off guard. She didn't comprehend what Li Ke meant at first, but the realization struck her almost immediately.
"It is because every single one of us is entirely willing to pay any price imaginable to eradicate the demons. To us, the sacrifice you just heard isn't unreasonable at all."
Kanae let out a soft, melancholic sigh.
"Our Lord once told us that the day the Demon Slayer Corps disbands would be the exact moment all our bitter grievances with Muzan Kibutsuji finally come to an end. But none of us ever anticipated that things would devolve to this point."
As Kanae spoke, she couldn't help but lose herself in her memories.
"The Demon Slayer Corps used to be exceptionally small, numbering only about two hundred members. The sole reason the organization ballooned to its current scale was due to the sudden invasion of those monsters. Back then, our Lord already suspected that spreading the Breathing Styles so aggressively might not end well. While the sheer number of Demon Slayers grew exponentially, their actual combat effectiveness plummeted. And now, those exact fears have manifested as a catastrophic reality."
She began to systematically narrate the rapid, unchecked expansion of the Corps over recent weeks. Shinobu remained blind to many of these underlying systemic failures, but Kanae, observing the world as a phantom, saw everything with absolute clarity. Furthermore, many dark secrets were things only the dead could ever overhear.
Because of this, she understood the deep-seated rot within the current Demon Slayer Corps better than anyone alive.
"Even before the outbreak, the Demon Slayer Corps was already on the verge of splintering apart. The only reason those factions didn't completely betray our Lord sooner was the looming threat of the external monsters. But you already know what happened next—the parasite invasion instantly detonated the powder keg among people who never trusted each other to begin with."
It was a painfully familiar story. To put it simply, an organization was forced by its harsh environment to massively scale up its recruitment, causing its internal ranks to become a chaotic, undisciplined mess. Ultimately, a minor setback paired with a basic psychological wedge was all it took to tear the entire Corps to shreds.
"Even though the Hashira are still standing to keep the organization from completely dissolving, systematically hunting down Muzan Kibutsuji under these conditions is now a logistical impossibility."
Kanae sighed heavily once again.
This big sister, who usually radiated a bright and cheerful warmth, was now entirely consumed by a deep, lingering sorrow.
"Therefore, if a profoundly powerful figure does not step forward to assume the mantle of the new Leader, the young child of the Ubuyashiki family will be forced into the role prematurely. He will inevitably face endless political backstabbing and severe hardship, potentially even losing his life because of it. We, the Hashira, are undeniably exceptional tools when it comes to slaughtering demons. But if we are ambushed and surrounded by a heavily armed faction of human samurai who have also mastered the Breathing Styles, even we stand absolutely no chance of survival. Yet, tragically, the Corps will remain entirely dependent on those very factions for a very long time to come."
This was the ultimate, most helpless paradox of their situation. You knew precisely which human factions had instigated the bloody riot, yet you couldn't lay a single finger on them because their numbers were desperately required for future operations.
That was the bitter gridlock the Demon Slayer Corps currently faced.
The Hashira lacked the ruthless determination and optimized combat styles required to wage an efficient war against fellow humans. While they remained fanatically loyal to the concept of the Corps, the reality was grim—with the demons currently vanished into thin air, whether the organization could even track down Muzan, or if the Corps itself would survive the winter, remained an open question.
The sole way to shatter this deadlock was to find an individual possessing overwhelming physical dominance, absolute strategic achievements, zero vulnerability to Muzan's temptations, and a ironclad vow never to disband the forces until Muzan Kibutsuji was dead. Only a person like that could salvage the wreckage of the Demon Slayer Corps.
This was a problem that Kagaya Ubuyashiki could not have solved even if he were still alive. No matter how one looked at the options, Li Ke was the only suitable candidate for the job.