Both of them caught the scent of cooking at the same time. Thinking of his obedient daughter preparing a meal in Tōga's home, the Dog General couldn't help but feel both tender and sour at heart.
'Even I haven't tasted Shirayuki's cooking more than a handful of times… and this brat comes back only to be spoiled like this. How unfair!'
The Dog General stared at Tōga sitting upright before him. He had half a mind to plant two black eyes on that handsome face—handsome in the exact same way as his own.
"Tōga, I feel it's not very safe for you and Shirayuki to head to Wind and Thunder Gorge together. It would be better if you went alone."
'So what, it's somehow safer if I go alone?'
Tōga muttered inwardly, grinding his molars.
From the corner of his eye, he saw his father-in-law's expression threatening to break, and worried he was about to endure another 'sparring match' in name only.
'Once I've become a Great Demon, I'll dote on Shirayuki right in front of you, let's see how you keep nitpicking then.'
The phrase 'old man and will-o'-the-wisp' flashed in his mind—an image of himself and the stubborn father locked in endless contest.
But knowing full well the temperament of this father and daughter, Tōga kept his face calm and instead offered with a smile:
"My lord, it's mealtime already. Why not come to my home for dinner?"
"Oh, would that be proper?"
The Dog General feigned reluctance, brows furrowed, though the corner of his lips twitched upward.
Afraid of being brushed off like last time, he cleared his throat and added lightly:
"Still, I haven't been to your place in a long while. I may as well see how you're doing. If you're lacking in anything, just say the word."
His face broke into a broad smile as he went on:
"After all, you're the genius of the Dog Clan. Your life ought to be flourishing."
'The only thing I lack is your daughter.'
Tōga didn't dare say it aloud, but he smiled just the same, rising with the Dog General to return home.
Tōga's household still kept the dining habits of his previous life.
A small square table sat in the center of the room, now covered with Shirayuki's carefully prepared dishes—vivid in color, fragrant, and appetizing.
When the Dog General sat down, he suddenly felt like the extra guest.
The young man and woman across from him, their every interaction was brimming with sweetness—the air around them practically filled with pink 'love bubbles'.
Even with the spiritual fortitude of a Great Demon, the Dog General found it hard to endure.
"Father, you should eat more too."
Shirayuki gently placed a morsel into his bowl, her voice soft and tender.
The Dog General looked at his daughter—grown more radiant and beautiful by the day, and for a moment, he saw the child she once was.
'She's grown up. Her eyes and brows look more and more like her mother's…'
'Perhaps it is time to let go.'
Softened for an instant, he then noticed how his daughter ignored him in favor of the outsider boy. His heart immediately hardened again.
'No. Her marriage must not be rushed.'
Dinner ended on the surface with harmony. Servants cleared the bowls and dishes.
Rejected once again, the Dog General returned alone to the keep. His slightly lonely back left Tōga thinking that perhaps having a son was better—at least then no one would 'steal away his cabbage'.
"What did Father say?"
Once the Dog General had gone, Shirayuki sipped her tea in the first-floor hall, her sharp eyes settling on Tōga.
Her gaze said it clearly enough: 'After taking so many of my favors, if you fail at this, you're dead.'
At the dinner table earlier, Tōga had cornered her with, "You wouldn't want to be kept from the front lines, would you?" For the sake of the Dog Clan's greater cause, she had 'reluctantly' agreed.
The poor father had simply become another stepping stone in the young couple's playful show of affection, leaving Shirayuki both embarrassed and secretly pleased. After all, her father had long used her name to refuse the Great Elder's proposals.
"We can't go to the fortress."
The moment Tōga spoke, a chill ran down his spine—the killing look in Shirayuki's eyes urged him to continue quickly.
"Though we can't go to the fortress, the Dog General approved us to lead two squads to Wind and Thunder Gorge as support."
"However, the condition is that the remaining five Leopard Cat Elders have confirmed their presence at the fortress."
Shirayuki's expression shifted, but she soon realized this was her father's bottom line. She nodded lightly with a sigh.
"If only I could become a high-level yōkai sooner."
"Don't worry. The chance for us to shine isn't far off."
Tōga pulled the downcast girl into his arms and murmured:
"With me here, reaching the next stage won't be far away."
"…Mhm."
As the night deepened, Shirayuki accompanied Tōga in his secret chamber, discussing serious training. With her exceptional talent, the awakening of her bloodline, and Tōga's guidance, advancing to a high-level yōkai was only a matter of time.
Meanwhile, in the chamber, Tōga outlined two short-term plans:
"First, summon Kujaku and Seiten along with twenty other Dog Clan yōkai to serve under me."
"This will establish my own personal guard, ensuring I have reliable men in the future."
"Second, strengthen the Dog Clan's foundation by training these twenty into a systematic force. Starting with a small example, we can expand and replicate the model across the clan."
"Though I can't yet make them truly elite, I can raise them into mid-level yōkai, each with their own specialties. That much is possible."
"The step from mid-level to high-level requires deeper exploration. I hadn't expected Ziyan to break through so smoothly. I need more examples—Shirayuki herself will be invaluable."
With his short-term plans for the clan set, Tōga turned to his own cultivation.
This, even more than the clan's growth, was paramount.
In this transcendent world, all great power resided in individuals. The strong were the axis of the world; the weak were but cradles for the strong.
Having shed the barrier of limited vision, Tōga's strength was growing again at the pace it had back in his low-level days.
The quality and quantity of his demonic energy advanced with every breath, drawing in the surrounding spiritual aura bit by bit.
"A weakling may still swallow an elephant. One method is through barriers that gather the many, another lies in the spell arrays of the Divine Land."
His brush wrote three characters onto the page: Penglai Island.
For this world too held the legend of Emperor Qin Shi Huang sending Xu Fu with three thousand youths to seek Penglai and the secret of immortality.
"The Cauldron of Resonance left there by the cultivators of old—it must be mine. It must not fall into the hands of those four clowns."
Still considering himself a son of Huaxia, Tōga firmly inscribed Penglai Island in his heart.
Once he became a high-level yōkai, he would go test the so-called Four War Gods himself—and see just how fierce they truly were.
⋆⁺｡˚⋆˙‧₊☽ ◯ ☾₊‧˙⋆˚｡⁺⋆
[T/N: In the fourth InuYasha movie, Fire on the Mystic Island, Penglai Island, known in Japanese as Hōraijima (蓬莱島), appears as a mystical land that surfaces every fifty years due to a weakening time barrier. This island serves as a sanctuary for yōkai and humans who have mated, resulting in many hanyō (half-demon) children who are shunned by the outside world. The island is protected by a barrier that isolates it from those who would reject the hanyō, but every fifty years, the barrier weakens, allowing the island to reappear and making it vulnerable to attacks from other yōkai who despise the existence of the hanyō.
During one such reappearance, the Four War Gods attack the island, seeking to regain their power by sacrificing hanyō children into the sacred Cauldron of Resonance, a giant cauldron that leads to Hell. The island's priestess, Lady Kanade, seals the Four War Gods' powers into a jeweled box and throws it into the Cauldron, sacrificing her own spirit in the process.]