Quest Maker: 375 (Patreon)

Title: Lan Ruo

Ja Sum admits... what he pulled was funny. Others may not see his way but as it is the ancient norm of this world, only a prankster usually enjoys their cruel prank and yes, it wasn't beyond his understanding that what he pulled might have been a touch too cruel.

Merely a touch.

A pinch, even.

But like many sweet desserts get sweeter with a pinch of salt; A prank gets funnier with a pinch of cruelty. A toxic prank in its very definition and something that Ja Sun may get hooked on if he wasn't already a passionate pain lover.

But...

'Tch... not allowing me to sleep on Violet's lap for the next entire month is downright abusive!' Ja Sun clicks his tongue inwardly, not bothered by his other punishments. Again, he is 'punished' because he lets it be. But... he cannot disregard Violet's will so naturally, he turns to the next best lap.

And when Bi Ji ruthlessly rejected him, Ja Sun sought Bibi Dong... then Yuehua, then Lana, then Ja Yin, then Xiao Bei, then Snow, then Erlong, then Ah Yin... well, things can be considered an all-time low for him since even Feng Liu and Bing Bing rejected him. Well, the former did so under Bibi Dong's meaningful yet threatening stare.

So... realizing that the shit he pulled may be a touch too serious... no, a pinch too serious, Ja Sun decided to take matters into his own hand, and damn it, he got a lap!

A woman with dark blue hair sits on a chair that can be seen on a vast grassland. Her body is garbed in plated purple-gold armor with pronounced shoulder sets and a circular spot opened up around her breasts to reveal her olive-skinned cleavage. Contrasting to her wheaty skin tone, her purplish irides seem to glow every time she observes Ja Yin and Violet set the blood red array. One thing to note is that whenever she gazes upon Ja Yin, her eyes would struggle to hide a primal hunger. A hunger for strength.

"Oh? You've got some knowledge of arrays, huh?" The casual voice breaches into her thoughts and snaps her out of her desire to devour Ja Yin and have a chance in laying claim to her ability to raise others' cultivation.

"I—" the woman stammers and looks down. Her large breasts make sure that she cannot exactly look at HIS face but she can certainly observe his peaceful expression as he is still lazily lying on his side and letting his head rest on her lap to observe the two form runes seamlessly.

"What? Don't say you really fear me. You jumped at the chance of being my lap pillow once I dove into your tribe," Ja Sun hums, "But it really surprised me. Your mate used to think that he is the only one for you. I mean, he was the strongest in your tribe but how did he ever brush past the fact that you kept your tribe in check is well... admirable."

The woman's expression darkens. There is no true 'love' between many spirit beasts. At least, this is a fact for many spirit beast tribes that thrive on strength and strength alone. So, in these cases, the beasts love strength— being the product of their surroundings, that is.

Such beasts are capable of change but Ja Sun thought it beneath himself to think like that or TRY and change a woman from what she really is. Who's got time for that? Or the patience and emotional stability? He never really sought to change anyone around him and as recently demonstrated by their open views of his death, they did not strive to change him either.

If a change occurs, it should happen naturally— Out of one's will, not another's manipulations.

"The King was my mate and did birth his offspring but he had many other mates beneath the ranks of 100000-year-old beasts and many more offsprings. He valued me because of my strength and my ability to get a job done..." The woman responds as she shudders in her seat for a moment, unable to keep her nervousness in check, not after recalling the 'roster' of annoyed women who shot glares his way a few hours ago and in turn, her way when he boldly claimed her to be the new lap pillow for him.

And why a lap pillow?! She whines internally. She was promised success! A path to godhood! And the sheer casualness with which he claimed that he would leave her and her tribe be once he loots all their natural treasures and maybe a few materials from their body... she was kind of sold to the idea of joining him outright.

He did not seek to kill her. He promised her good things. He is powerful, arguably at the top of this world. Everything he did, including his achievement of not only taming the 'Unruly' Zi Ji but even killing her former mate just made her wish for him as the new mate.

'So... if I am just to be his lap pillow... I shall accept my fate.'

But eager to prove her worth, she eyes the array for a moment and gulps, "And indeed, I am a little well-versed in the art of arrays... and I can understand a few runes and the intended chain constructed between them.

"Oh?" The moderate interest in his voice is what she sought! She will play at this!

"Yes," with more vigor in her voice, the woman explains, "I can sense that the outer regions of the array that... Violet and Ja Yin, was it? The outer rim of the triangular array is to act as a reflection of sorts. I... I just don't understand what it is meant to reflect."

Ja Sun blinks his eyes in surprise. When he went after Deep Sea Demonic King Whale's mate, he did not expect her understanding of array to be at this honestly acceptable level.

"It's not supposed to reflect, Lan Ruo," Ja Sun chuckles, "But 'spread' out the functions from the core region of the array. It is hard to differentiate between the runes leading to reflection, refraction, and distribution so it's easy to misinterpret them."

"I apologize for my lack of understanding," Lan Ruo, who had actually called herself the Demon Empress until she saw who the invader in her tribe was, lowers her head deeply, just a shy away from burying her face into her own bountiful chest and speaks out in a hurried tone.

"It's alright," Ja Sun shrugs and peacefully closes his eyes. In reality, he did not invite her for her skills in an array that needs quite a bit of polishing but for her attribute of water.

As he said before, he intends to take his godhood seriously and he needs to prepare six spirit beasts for his martial soul with the seventh one already selected long ago.

And having a martial soul with the attribute of water is not bad at all. He also has Bing Bing and Snow in mind. Zi Ji and Bi Ji, too. Especially Bi Ji and her understanding of the Law of Life.

Lan Ruo, the former mate of the million-year-old sea king Ja Sun ambushed when laying claim to King's Lair is a 'ravishing' choice and no, he isn't uncivilized enough to think that just because he killed the husband, he must take his wife for the sheer pleasure of it. If that were to be the case, he wouldn't have let Lan Ruo escape then.

It is simply because this is one of the rare species that has the potential to reach the strength equivalent of a demi-god or a million-year-old beast.

Others with the same potential include Zi Ji and Bi Ji. Even Di Tian. But... Ja Sun's humble mind is not into forming such close bonds with a man unless it's a spirit soul they are talking about.

'Heh... but calling her a lap pillow and seeing their expression was simply amazing,' Ja Sun smirks and observes the utterly listless Violet who was the previous holder of the title 'All Lap.'

For a moment, Ja Sun considers the possible shift in the group dynamic after inviting Lan Ruo. He wasn't expecting her to be so... well, easy? Ja Sun knows that, unlike the popular opinions, beasts are 'easy' to befriend and 'tame' as long as you are strong and don't try to actively harm their interests. The most prominent example of this is the beasts of King's Lair that accepted Ja Sun as their 'God' and let his significant halves rule them to a certain extent, too.

But here, Ja Sun did kill Lan Ruo's mate. He expected some kind of... plans?

Instead, Lan Ruo is similar to Ja Yin. Forthright in her intent in mating and producing offspring— beasttakens or otherwise. Unknown to the Lan Ruo, it's not Ja Sun calling her a lap pillow that earned her such a harsh welcome but her eloquence with which she stated she expects to mate with him.

Not only that, her hunger for power is similar to Bibi Dong. But while Bibi Dong desires to have an empire to rule eventually, Lan Ruo wishes to make use of her followers for as much personal growth as possible.

'Well, whatever. As easy as Feng Liu. As eager as Ja Yin. And as greedy as Bibi. Whoever created her fucked up big time but at least gave her some cool and soft thighs,' Ja Sun exhales in relief.

Feeling that hot exhale against her skin, Lan Ruo chews her lips in contemplation and begins, "Dear Mate—"

"Just call me Ja Sun. Or Sun. Being called Mate... is oddly titillating so we'll reserve that for now," Ja Sun hums and snaps his fingers, "And Yin, you just did the last three runes sloppily. Try them again."

"Fuck you," Ja Yin grumbles but does as directed. Her fiery golden pupils glance in the duo's direction and she grits her teeth harder.

Oh, she does not like Lan Ruo... at all!

She never expected to get more annoyed than seeing Ah Yin's face but... here they are. Lan Ruo's existence is more annoying and so is Ja Sun's pleased expression! The bastard!

He really just went ahead and found a new set of the lap the moment he was denied some love from the group!

Ja Yin knows that others are just still pissed at his prank rather than Lan Ruo but Violet is seriously bummer out and Ja Yin does not like it. Violet is one of the better friends to her, after all.

"And Violet," Ja Sun's words perk the listless lamia going through the motion. Her unbelievably large, soft, and miraculously perky breasts tremble and jiggle at the upward jerk of her shoulders as he calmly hums, "Don't look so glum. Every moment away from your scaly thighs is a moment wasted. But... this is the consequence of my action so I will bear with Lan Ruo's thighs for now."

Violet exhales a relieved sigh and nods silently with a smile while Ja Yin shoots a smug look toward Lan Ruo only to hear the ruthlessly slutty and rational whale question calmly, "Then... would you like to test other human parts in me, Ja... Sun? I'm sure they would be to your liking."

"Oh, I'm sure, too," Ja Sun chuckles, "But... I'm going to pass on that offer for now. We'll be landing on the Sea God Island tomorrow and that would mark the end of our vacation. I... just want to close my eyes now."

"... Fine, then come back to the room."

Ah Yin's voice emerges from within Ja Sun's robes as she had left a blade of Blue Silver Goddess with him and she knew that he knew that she had done so.

Ja Sun, much like Violet previously, perks and sits up quickly and grins, "Well, Ruo, socialize with the two and ask them if you have questions for arrays. You can join our training sessions, too. But, for now, my sweet and loving wives miss me~"

"Bibi Dong is saying she doesn't," Ah Yin speaks once again.

"Aw, she's just being coy," Ja Sun shrugs, "A husband of course knows when he's being missed!"

With that, he disappears. It's clear that Ah Yin and Bibi Dong are in the same room and want to enjoy the last night of their vacation, too... and maybe 'speed' up Ja Sun's punishment by doing more intense stuff, at least, that's what he hoped for.

As he blinks out of the spatial artifact, Lan Ruo glances at Ja Yin and Violet before nodding.

"I shall be in your care. But eventually, I will rise through the ranks," her words, her expression, her openness... all of it rubs Ja Yin the wrong way!

"Fuck you!" She shouts again.

"If it would please my mate, then you may fuck me," Lan Ruo smiles formally as Ja Yin growls in frustration while Violet squeezes out a strained smile, too.

Her master... just keeps on attracting hussies of all kinds. From formal ones to submissive and eager ones.

'Does that make me a hussy, too?' Violet thinks for a moment but pays it no heed. After all, she is one of the rare 'pure' ones in the group who still hadn't been, as Erlong states in contempt despite loving it, corrupted yet. Stained, even.

"What was that Rune you just inscribed?" Lan Ruo's query echoes.

"Aghhh! I said fuck you!" Ja Yin continues to embark on her monotonous vocabulary of insults when faced with the indescribably irritating factor that Lan Ruo brings forth.

***

Alternate Title: The Enemy's Mate Secured; From Demon Empress to Demon in Heat Real Quick; All-Lap!; Violet Has Thunderous Thighs!; Peak Lamia Physique— Violet; More Irritating Than Her Own Face— Lan Ruo; Last Night of Vacation; Bibi Dong Does Not Miss Ja Sun... *Narrator Voice* That Indeed Was A Lie

***

A/N: Oooh boy... I remember when I used to claim that there will be only five harem members... so, let's count. Yin×2, Dong, Erlong, Yuehua, Zi Ji, Bi Ji, Snow, Bing, Xiao Bei, Wu, Violet, and now Lan Ruo. That makes a total of... 13... add three more that I have planned so the harem at the end will be 16. No more, no less.

Oof... almost three times the initial estimation but honestly... I expected it to spiral out more. I'm glad that it didn't.

A ton of smut in the future!