The Fist Demon was in the grand training ground.
Dozens of Iron Fists were practicing their fist arts, and the Fist Demon stood before them with his arms crossed.
The Invincible Fist Demon, Duan Youqiang.
The strongest master of fist arts, said to have never known a single defeat.
He was a head taller than me, and his entire body was all muscle. His bronzed skin looked so hard it might as well have been steel, as if no blade could pierce it. His fists, in particular, were exceptionally large—without the slightest exaggeration, they were the size of a woman’s head.
If ever the phrase “his body itself is a weapon” applied to anyone, it applied to the Invincible Fist Demon.
And there was one thing that seized the eye above all else. The Fist Demon looked truly terrifying. It would not have been an exaggeration to say the devils depicted in our cult’s paintings and stone statues had been modeled after his face. It was the kind of face that made me think that, should the Great Demon-Righteous War break out, he absolutely had to be put at the vanguard. How many people in the murim would dare look that face straight on?
The Fist Demon slowly turned his head and looked at me.
It didn’t matter what he was feeling right now. His appearance itself was so chilling that even now, at the very least, he looked as if he were asking me to fight.
Of course, I held no prejudice toward appearances. In all my life, how many times had I experienced that looks and nature did not coincide? How many perfectly normal-looking bastards had there been who killed people with a smile?
I bowed my head politely in greeting.
“I pay my respects to the Fist Demon.”
But the Fist Demon did not return my greeting and simply looked back at the Iron Fists. It was an act of thoroughly ignoring me, but I did not mind.
In the past, I would have read meaning into the act itself and had my pride wounded, but not now. Don’t flare up. Please, don’t flare up. Once it passes, it is nothing at all.
If he was acting like this on my first visit, he must have his reasons.
I stood beside him and watched as the Iron Fists trained in their fist arts.
Beneath the blazing sun, the Iron Fists stood like stone statues, each holding a single posture. As if the world would end if they moved, not one of them budged. Then again, with that fearsome Fist Demon watching them, who would dare move simply because it was hard?
A suffocating tension hung in the air, but fortunately, no one made a mistake that caught the Fist Demon’s eye.
How much time had passed?
At the shout of the martial artist standing at the very front, the Iron Fists shifted into the next stance. Of the two fists they had thrust out, one drew back to the waist as their bodies twisted sideways.
Once more, they took another posture and became stone statues that seemed as though they might never move again. They poured their heart and soul into each and every movement.
I thought it was proper training. Of course, how many of them would truly understand the deep meaning contained in this training and make it their own was a separate matter.
Thus, the training that lasted an entire shichen came to an end.
The Iron Fists all dispersed, and the Fist Demon also walked off to his own residence. He ignored me thoroughly to the very end.
Since he must have heard all sorts of rumors and news about me lately, this thorough disregard could also be considered a kind of conversation.
I imagined that terrifying face looking at me and smiling brightly. I imagined exchanging jokes with him.
Fist Demon, if you treat me like this, I am the sort of person who imagines things like that.
The next day, I went to see the Fist Demon again.
But today, just like on the first day, he merely glanced at me once, then silently watched the Iron Fists train in martial arts.
I was ignored just as I had been yesterday, but no one laughed at me for it. It was discipline born from fear of the Fist Demon, but among the subordinates of the Demon Venerables I had seen so far, I thought the Iron Fists were the ones whose discipline was most properly established.
Only when the martial training ended did the Fist Demon finally speak to me.
“Second Young Master.”
Compared to that frightening face, his voice was unexpectedly gentle. I had thought it would be a heavy, cold voice, but it was softer than expected. It was as if he were merely moving his lips while someone behind him provided the voice in his stead.
“Why do you think I acted that way yesterday?”
“Was it perhaps because I visited during martial training?”
At that, as if my answer were wrong, the Fist Demon turned around and strode away. So he wasn’t going to make this easy? I looked at his back and smiled faintly.
The next day, I went to see the Fist Demon again.
I was the one visiting him, but it was the Fist Demon who had induced my visits.
Today, I changed the timing and went before the martial training began. As I sat on the railing in front of the building where his office was located, passing Iron Fists looked at me as they went by.
Though the Fist Demon was ignoring me, none of the Iron Fists looked at me with contempt. If anything, there was a subtle goodwill and respect in their eyes. The Second Young Master from when I had just regressed and the Second Young Master now could be said to be entirely different people.
Just then, the Fist Demon came out of the building.
“Did you sleep well?”
He glanced at me, then moved on without a word. I followed after him as he headed to the grand training ground.
“I thought carefully about the reason yesterday. Is it perhaps because you were not the first among the Demon Venerables whom I came to visit?”
One way or another, I had met and formed ties with all the other Demon Venerables, so excluding the Poison King, he was the seventh.
The Fist Demon stopped walking and looked at me with his frightening face as he asked,
“Do I look like such a petty man?”
“Then perhaps I am the petty one. If it were me, I think I would be very angry.”
The Fist Demon said nothing more and simply left. Watching him grow distant, I called out.
“I will see you again tomorrow.”
But the next day, I could not see the Fist Demon.
Only the Iron Fists trained in the training ground. Instead of the Fist Demon, I watched their training to the end, then returned.
In that way, I came up empty-handed three days in a row. I could not tell whether he was deliberately avoiding me or whether he simply had business to attend to.
“So that’s how you want to play it?”
In any case, these damned Demon Venerables were all uncomfortable and difficult, every last one of them. Truly, there was not a single easy opponent.
Let’s see who wins, I thought as I turned to leave, when one of the Iron Fists passed by and quietly said to me,
“The Demon Venerable is currently at the small training ground.”
When I looked at him with an expression asking why he was telling me that, he said in a low voice,
“My family received great help from the matter recently handled by the Yellow Springs Pavilion.”
After saying that, he bowed politely and left. Telling me this must have been a burden to him, but it seemed he had been very grateful for what the Yellow Springs Pavilion had done.
—Thank you.
I sent my thanks by voice transmission to him as he walked far away.
I went straight to the small training ground.
The Fist Demon was sitting there alone, lost in contemplation. One might think contemplation would not suit such a large, rugged man, but unexpectedly, the sight of him sitting cross-legged with his eyes closed suited him surprisingly well.
Standing behind him, I spoke in a low voice. I omitted entirely the matter of having come up empty-handed for three days, as well as how I had found this place, and spoke to him as if I had seen him only yesterday.
“Is the reason you are trying to keep your distance from me perhaps because of my elder brother? Is it because you have already resolved to support him, and you do not wish to shake that conviction?”
After a brief pause, the Fist Demon opened his eyes and said,
“What grand conviction would that be, that I would treat a man coldly for such a reason? The humans who ruin the world are all those with misguided convictions.”
It was an unexpected remark. Judging by his appearance alone, he looked like the sort of man who, once he made up his mind, would uphold it until death.
“Then you could support me instead of my brother.”
At that, as if he had no intention of continuing the conversation, the Fist Demon closed his eyes again.
I bowed my head politely in farewell.
“Tomorrow, I will be sure to come back with the answer.”
I could tell. He was testing me in some way. If not, he would have told me outright not to come. In any case, it was not bad. If I kept seeing him often, I would eventually be able to find the answer to our relationship.
After leaving the East Fist Gate, I headed to the Southern Blade Sect to meet the Blood Heaven Blade Demon.
Strangely enough, the Blood Heaven Blade Demon was also sitting in the courtyard, lost in contemplation.
“Is today the day all the Demon Venerables contemplate as a group? Then I should do some contemplating too.”
I went and sat beside him.
With his eyes closed, the Blood Heaven Blade Demon spoke quietly.
“Since all you’ve ever done is slash with a blade and kill, you don’t know how to deal with fists, do you?”
The Blood Heaven Blade Demon knew exactly what situation I was in.
“How did you know?”
“How else? Rumors are everywhere that you’ve been going in and out of the East Fist Gate these days.”
“How quickly rumors spread. Loose-lipped demons, the lot of them!”
“You’ll lose all the fish you’ve caught at this rate.”
“It’s all right. I’ll just go catch them again. There are only seven, so I should at least have the fun of catching them again.”
“Why seven?”
I quietly looked at the Blood Heaven Blade Demon.
“Have you already caught and eaten me?”
At the Blood Heaven Blade Demon’s words, I burst out laughing. The Blood Heaven Blade Demon must have found what he said amusing as well, because he laughed along with me.
“That is actually why I came to see you. What kind of person is the Fist Demon?”
“Usually, bastards who use their fists are bound to be ignorant, but the Fist Demon is smart. He is a very smart man.”
A smart Fist Demon. That was likely why the Drunken Demon had said he could not be easily defeated unless one made a considerable resolve, and why Father had said the ratio was four to three, but close.
“The fists of a smart man hurt more.”
“Do you regret it? Thinking you should have caught him before this old man?”
“I suppose I should say this first. I do not know exactly what kind of person the Fist Demon is, but this much is certain. A Blade Demon already won is worth more than ten Fist Demons!”
I did not begrudge the art of flattery when it came to the Blood Heaven Blade Demon. Flattery, after all, usually brought a moment where one wondered, What am I even doing? But with the Blood Heaven Blade Demon, that was not the case.
I did not worry about the Blood Heaven Blade Demon. Not because I treated him like a fish I had already caught, but because I sincerely liked him. When I first asked him to become my left wing, I had said it because I needed a Demon Venerable.
But now, it did not matter if he were not a Demon Venerable, or even if he were the keeper of our cult’s stables. It did not matter if he were someone who had no influence whatsoever on my becoming the successor. I liked the person that was the Blood Heaven Blade Demon himself. As long as that feeling did not change, I would not need to worry about my relationship with him.
“Do you know why the Cult Leader likes the Fist Demon?”
“Father likes the Fist Demon?”
“He does not say it outwardly, but among the Demon Venerables, he probably likes him the most.”
“Why does he like him?”
“Because the Fist Demon is a man mad for martial arts.”
Then nothing more needed to be said. He fit the foremost condition for Father to like him.
“And not merely mad, but purely mad.”
“And yet you say he is smart? That’s impressive.”
“Impressive, my foot. You’ve met a proper match, that’s all.”
“It is all right because I have you, Elder. Truly, if you were not here, from whom would I hear such advice, and how would I live?”
“You would live just fine. Drinking with the Drunken Demon and going around having fun with the Extreme Evil Smiling Demon.”
As expected, the Blood Heaven Blade Demon was jealous of the other Demon Venerables. Even so, he was giving me information about the Fist Demon without stint.
“You cannot exactly say I am wrong, can you?”
“If I need contemplation, I will come see you again. Next time, I will bring the Fist Demon with me.”
“Don’t you dare!”
With that, I left the Blood Heaven Blade Demon’s residence.
* * *
The next day, I went to see the Invincible Fist Demon again.
He was neither at the grand training ground nor at the small training ground. After searching here and there, the place where I found him was before a cliff within the East Fist Gate. I knew our cult was so vast that it had a lake and all manner of things, but I had not known there was even a cliff like this.
“Did you sleep well?”
He did not return my greeting today either. Still, it did not matter. The fact that he allowed me to freely wander around the East Fist Gate meant that he did not dislike my coming all that much.
I stood beside him and looked up at the cliff.
“I think I have finally found the answer. In exchange, please promise me one thing. That you will not get angry after hearing my answer. No, I suppose you may get angry, but promise you will not hit me with those fists.”
The Fist Demon slowly looked at me. He did not say in words that he promised, but the fact that he looked at me was enough.
“You wanted to show it to your subordinates. Not ‘I am a man who can lightly ignore even the Second Young Master,’ nor ‘I support the Eldest Young Master, so all of you should know that as well.’ What you truly wanted to say was: I have no interest whatsoever in your fight for succession. Wasn’t that it?”
Was it the correct answer? Unlike other times, he did not drive me away, and his gaze turned back toward the cliff.
I, too, no longer clung to whether it was the right answer and looked up at the cliff with him.
“I did not know there was a cliff like this inside the cult. If one climbed up there, the entire cult would be visible.”
“The purpose of this cliff is not to be climbed.”
“Then what is its purpose?”
Then an astonishing answer came out.
“This cliff is a cliff to be brought down by these fists. In a single blow!”
Because I felt that he meant it sincerely, I was startled.
“You think it is an absurd goal, do you not?”
No matter that he was the Fist Demon, bringing down this cliff in one strike was impossible. Even Father would not be able to do it.
“No. I was thinking, why have I never had such a concrete goal?”
I had never had a concrete goal when it came to martial arts. Of course, that was because Hwa Mugi had occupied that place.
It had truly been a long time since I had heard it. A martial artist speaking of a concrete goal. It stirred my heart.
“May I join you in this goal?”
“You intend to cut this cliff with a single sword strike?”
“No. I, too, want to try bringing it down with my fists.”
This time, the Fist Demon was startled. Surely he had never imagined I would give such an answer.
But right now, I meant it sincerely. If I could bring down this cliff with my fists, I felt that I would be able to defeat Hwa Mugi as well. No, setting Hwa Mugi aside, as a martial artist, I wanted to challenge it once. To the Fist Demon, who was staring at me with a face as terrifying as an evil spirit, I said something even more astonishing.
“Please teach me fist arts.”