When everyone’s gaze focused on me, I felt as if I were standing alone on an empty stage.
But I was not lonely.
Behind me stood the Extreme Evil Soma, and the people looking at me were also my Demon Venerables. In truth, they were Father’s Demon Venerables and stood on Father’s side, but in my heart, they were also mine.
Of course, there was one fact I must not forget. My relationship with these Demon Venerables was possible in the first place because I was Father’s son.
That was why this stage was important. I had to settle this contest well upon this stage. Whether I won or lost, I, too, had to do so with dignity and grace.
Because this stage was Father’s and my first stage.
First of all, I must absolutely not damage Father’s majesty and authority in front of the Demon Venerables. That was the principle of this fight.
‘Father, do you know that I am even considering that? Do you know how difficult that makes this fight for me?’
Father’s gaze turned toward me. I could not tell how much of what I had said earlier had reached him.
The one who broke the silence was the Drunken Demon.
“Cult Leader, I would like to offer the Young Cult Leader a cup of wine. Would that be all right?”
At the Drunken Demon’s request, Father nodded.
The Drunken Demon poured wine into the Ice Palace Holy Grail.
“Young Cult Leader, accept a cup from me and change your mind.”
Though he was taking Father’s side, the Drunken Demon’s true feelings were different.
—I do not wish to see the murim become a sea of blood, so use that fine head of yours and find a way!
Between Father and me, he had no choice but to choose Father, but the Drunken Demon opposed war. This wine was a cup of encouragement.
“I will drink it gratefully.”
As I slowly drank, I exchanged sound transmissions with the Drunken Demon.
—As you can see, hyung, changing Father’s mind won’t be easy.
—Even so, the only person here who can do it is you.
“I drank it well.”
Just then, the Blood Heaven Blade Demon sent me a sound transmission.
—Give up. The Cult Leader’s dream and yours run along parallel lines. They can never meet.
From his perspective, he had judged that no matter how much I tried to persuade Father, I could not change Father’s long-cherished wish.
The Blood Heaven Blade Demon was right. How could a dream Father had held for so long be easily changed?
I calmly asked Father.
“There is something I would like to ask. Father, do you often think of that dream?”
Father looked at me with an expression asking what I meant by that.
“When we dream of something, at first it makes our hearts race and excites us, but as time passes, doesn’t that dream become something we take for granted?”
Father’s eyes wavered slightly. That long-cherished wish must have become a ‘given’ dream to him as well.
“Father, it is all right for you to dream the same dream. But could you not dream it again from the beginning? Dream it again from a state where you have no dream at all. Not as a dream you have had since so long ago you no longer remember when it began, but as a vivid dream of the present.”
Father gave no answer.
“All throughout the time I met the Demon Venerables this time, I thought about it. Is it truly all right for me to go against Father’s will? Do I have the right to do so? That was why I even went to meet my strategist. Even after meeting him and steadying my heart, when I saw Father, my heart wavered again.”
It was my true sincerity that I was conveying to Father.
“That is how much I do not wish to go against your will, Father. Because I respect you more than anyone else in the world.”
It was not flattery. It was my sincere feeling toward Father, revealed before all the Demon Venerables. Father still listened to me without any change in expression.
Today, Father was dealing with me not by speaking, but by listening. Thanks to that, today’s stage was truly my solo performance.
“I know very well how important Father’s dream, that long-cherished wish and ideal, is. The Demonic Way I spoke of is also part of my dream. But I believe there is something just as important as that.”
“What is that?”
“What we will eat for dinner later, whom we will meet tomorrow. I believe everyday life is just as important as a grand dream. I mean the scenery we look upon as we move toward that dream.”
It was also the reason I tried to live my life without being swallowed by the existence of a powerful enemy like Hwa Mugi.
It was a principle of life I had upheld since my regression, but I could not know how persuasive the words of someone as young as me would be to Father. Even so, I did my best.
“It is important to me to defeat you in baduk, Father, and it is also important to me to fulfill my wish of bathing in hot springs with you. Traveling through the Central Plains together with you is also my earnest desire. If I saw Father achieve the unification of murim without fulfilling any of these things and then sitting in the taishi chair, would I truly be happy?”
And how could that be all? My gaze turned toward the Demon Venerables.
“It is important to me to exchange pointers with the Sword Venerable, and it is important to me to train late into the night with Master. I want to read beside the Blade Demon while he reads. I will gather poisonous herbs with the Poison King, drink with the Drunken Demon, and watch the statue the Demon Buddha completes. I will also watch the Soul-Capturing Demon Venerable grow. And there is still much furniture I want to place in Soma’s room. To me, these things are just as important as my dream. Because when I look back before I die someday, all these moments will be terribly precious and fill me with regret.”
Each and every moment had been so lonely and painful, yet when I looked back after it had passed, life had truly gone by in the blink of an eye. I had experienced it.
What I had to say from here on had to be said carefully.
“I believe the dream Father has held for so long was a dream with too few choices. To one who walks the path of the Heavenly Demon, many milestones would not have been necessary.”
But Father’s thoughts were firm.
“Even if there had been a hundred choices, I would have chosen the same one. Even if there had been dozens of crossroads, I would have continued walking the path I was on.”
“I am not telling you to take another path.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“I am telling you to look at the scenery around you as you walk.”
So that at times your steps may stop, at times another path may make you curious, and at times you may even doubt your own path.
For that, I, too, had to walk the road with Father. I had to walk with him, converse with him, and when scenery worth seeing appeared, tell him to look over there.
As I spoke with Father, I realized that this was the only way to make Father’s dream change. That realization immediately led to action.
“Father, will you make one promise with me?”
Not only Father, but the Demon Venerables as well looked at me with curious expressions. With everyone’s attention on me, I continued.
“Yes, a promise between martial artists. It is also a promise between the Cult Leader and the Young Cult Leader, and a promise between father and son.”
“What promise?”
“Please give me time.”
“Time?”
I thought about how many years I would need. I needed a span of time that was neither too short nor too long.
A time in which I could accomplish my goal exactly.
“Please give me exactly five years from now.”
“And if I do?”
“At that time, I will ask you again. If Father’s dream is still the unification of murim then, I will stand at the vanguard of that war.”
“!”
Not only Father, but all the Demon Venerables were startled. The Drunken Demon wore an expression as if he wanted to shout at once, “No! What are you doing?”
On the other side, both eyes of the Extreme Evil Soma were smiling. Was he imagining himself standing shoulder to shoulder with me at that vanguard?
That I would stand at the vanguard of the war—this was the decisive move I had thrown down.
Within five years, I would eliminate all of Hwa Mugi’s faction, and within five years, I would change Father’s mind. Within that time, I would make Father dream a new dream without fail.
Five years.
War was not something one could wage immediately just because one wished to.
Depending on what strategy one used to fight, preparations could take several months, or at length, two or three years.
In that case, to Father, five years was not such a long time.
If he won this wager, he could obtain me.
Me, who would have achieved the Twelfth-Star Great Completion of the Nine Flames Demonic Art through the Heaven-Defying Secret Art?
And would he obtain only me? He could also obtain everything the current me would accomplish by then as a bonus. If I took the lead and helped, Father’s dream of unifying murim would certainly draw closer.
This promise was an official promise made before the Demon Venerables.
“I am now staking my life to make this promise to you, Father.”
“Will you not regret it?”
“Father, are you the one who will not regret it?”
Our gazes intertwined in the air. Everyone here knew that we were two people who, once we made a promise, would keep it without fail. That was why both Father and I had to make our decision carefully.
“Why five years?”
“This is about changing the heart of none other than Father. If I followed my own desire, I would make it fifty years.”
“This is a fight in which I only need to carry this heart as it is. Five years will pass quickly. Even so, you will do it?”
“In that time, I will definitely change Father’s heart.”
That sneer formed at the corners of Father’s mouth. That smile, which gave a different impression each time, contained amusement today. It felt as if he were asking, “In truth, you want to fight too, don’t you?”
Perhaps that was why. Father readily nodded.
“Good. I accept that promise.”
I confirmed once more with the Demon Venerables this wager that would change all our fates.
“Five years from this day, I will invite all the Demon Venerables present here again, and I will ask Father about his dream. Let us settle the match that day.”
Five years from now, Father’s dream will have changed. You will speak of a dream that will startle every Demon Venerable here. I will make certain that happens.
“Thank you, Father.”
The Demon Venerables all looked at Father and me with expressions of surprise at this unexpected result.
Now, with a lighter heart, I asked Father.
“Since it is all over now, I would like to ask. Meeting the Demon Venerables and all that—was it to prepare for the unification of murim?”
But unexpectedly, Father shook his head.
“It was not?”
He was not someone who would answer such a thing with a lie. Startled, I asked again.
“Then why did you meet all the Demon Venerables?”
“All of them?”
“You met Soma, drank with the Drunken Demon, and helped the Poison King manufacture poison.”
“That is only three of them.”
He was right. The Demon Venerables he had met directly were three. Even for those, he offered other reasons.
“I heard that furniture had been placed in Soma’s room. So I went there once.”
If that was truly why, then Father must have had a change of heart recently as well.
“As for the Drunken Demon, the wine poured into the Ice Palace Holy Grail was so delicious that I simply drank with him.”
“What about the Poison King?”
“I was told that he needed precise object manipulation through the void. That he had failed several times in the manufacturing because he had no such assistant. So I merely went to help.”
I looked at Father. I could not tell whether he was speaking sincerely or not.
“I only met three of them, but you went around meeting them all.”
“!”
I flinched and asked Father with a startled expression.
“Then why did you gather everyone today? Was it not to persuade me and unite the Demon Venerables as one?”
“No.”
“No?”
“Are you the sort of child who would change his mind just because I persuaded you?”
Yes, there was no way Father did not know me.
“I received a report that you had gone around meeting all the Demon Venerables. Since you went around persuading them like that, I thought you should have a proper conclusion.”
In other words, this seat had been for me.
“Huh? Then why did I make that five-year promise?”
“You brought it up first. I did not say anything.”
In truth, Father had not even directly stated that his dream was this or that yet.
I shouted at the Blood Heaven Blade Demon as if accusing him.
“You said Father might have begun moving in earnest to fulfill his dream!”
“……I said he might have.”
Next, to the Fist Demon.
“You said Father was already in the middle of a war!”
“Would a father with a son like you not always be in the middle of a war?”
“That was what you meant?”
“What else would I have meant?”
And to the Demon Buddha as well.
“You said Father created this stage!”
The radiance that had been shining brightly from the Demon Buddha faded.
“Did I say that? My mind has been elsewhere lately. I should go finish the statue I was making.”
I looked back and forth between Father and the Demon Venerables.
“Right? I was had, wasn’t I? You all planned this from the beginning, didn’t you? That’s what happened, isn’t it?”
Just as I clutched my head with a pained expression, the Poison King, who had been standing apart at a distance, abruptly sent me a sound transmission.
—The one who was had is the Cult Leader.
He was reading my true thoughts accurately.
—If war breaks out, you will join it anyway. The you I know would ask the Cult Leader to let you stand at the vanguard. Because you would try to minimize the damage caused by the war.
I turned to him and smiled. He was right.
Would I enter secluded cultivation because I hated war, or would I side with the Murim Alliance? If I could not stop it beforehand, I would have to leap into the war anyway.
I had exaggerated as if I had been tricked, but this was not me being tricked. Rather, it was a contest advantageous to me.
Because at the very least, I would not have to worry about war for the next five years.
—Do you think the Cult Leader does not know your intentions?
—He must know.
I could tell just by the way Father looked at me. That did not mean he intended to go easy on me.
Father was giving me a chance, and at the same time, telling me to face him properly.
Not a contest of a single day, but a grand contest spanning a full five years.
The fate of murim was at stake in this contest.
By then, I would absolutely achieve the Twelfth-Star Great Completion of the Nine Flames Demonic Art and kill Hwa Mugi.
And I would also carry on a fight even more difficult than that one.
Showing Father that there was a better dream than the unification of murim. Walking together with Father, and making him see the scenery he had not seen all this time.
An empty taishi chair.
The empty taishi chair that now rose in my mind no longer carried the frightening feeling it had before. Because its absence would be for a different reason.
Father, from now on, you will have to go here and there with me. I have gained a justification.
Whether he knew my feelings or not, Father smiled faintly and said,
“If you become the vanguard commander, it will be reassuring.”
Absolute Regression Chapter 445