Geom Muyang was in his quarters, cultivating the Heavenly Demon Guardian Art.
It was a martial art his younger brother had passed on to him, even breaking the sect rules for his sake. How could he possibly neglect it? Whenever he had time, he devoted himself solely to cultivating the Heavenly Demon Guardian Art.
Geom Muyang, who had been absorbed in training, opened his closed eyes and halted the Heavenly Demon Guardian Art.
He had sensed someone entering the house. In the past, he would have noticed it later than this, but even though it had not been long since he learned it, the effect was already showing.
When Geom Mugeuk entered the room, Geom Muyang was standing by the window.
“You’re still young. Why do you keep looking out the window?”
“Then are windows only for old people to look out of?”
“Young people don’t look. They can’t stand it and run outside.”
“That’s prejudice.”
Geom Mugeuk walked over and stood side by side with Geom Muyang.
“How did it go?”
“I met the Alliance Leader just fine.”
Had there ever been an age, since the murim came into being, when the Young Cult Leader of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult could meet the Murim Alliance Leader so easily? His younger brother was probably the first.
“Are you hungry right now, by any chance?”
When Geom Muyang shook his head, Geom Mugeuk checked again.
“This is important. If you’re hungry, you might not be able to resist and gulp it down.”
What kind of nonsense is he about to say now? He looked at his younger brother with that kind of gaze.
“Now then, I bet this is the first time you’ve seen this in your life.”
Geom Mugeuk took a white bottle from his robe. The reason he had come running in such high spirits was inside that bottle.
As Geom Mugeuk slowly opened the stopper, an indescribably pleasant fragrance flowed out.
Geom Muyang, who had been quietly peering into the bottle, was startled.
“Don’t tell me that’s Gongcheong Stone Milk?”
Geom Mugeuk nodded.
“Say hello! This is the cult leader and alliance leader of the elixir world. This is my good-for-nothing older brother, Cult Leader, Alliance Leader.”
First, it overwhelmed him with its scent. Truly, he had never in his life encountered such a sweet fragrance.
“Where did you get it?”
It was such an extraordinary elixir that even the taciturn Geom Muyang’s voice trembled.
“The Alliance Leader gave it to me, saying thanks for helping with this matter. He told me to split it with you. He also said to make sure I conveyed his thanks to you.”
Geom Muyang gave a faint laugh.
There was no way that had happened. There was even less chance he had told him to share something this precious with him.
“I’m fine. You drink it.”
“I can’t do that. He gave it to me to share.”
“Shall I confirm that with the Alliance Leader?”
“If you don’t believe me, go ahead.”
Of course, he could not confirm it. With Geom Muyang’s personality, he was not the sort of person who would go to the Alliance Leader and ask, Did you really tell him to share it with me?
“Forget it. Even if he did, you drink it all.”
“If you don’t take any, I’ll throw it away.”
“Do as you like.”
“You think I can’t?”
Geom Mugeuk made as if to fling it onto the floor.
Of course, he could not.
“Whew, I’m so afraid it’ll spill that I can’t even pretend to tilt it.”
Geom Mugeuk held the bottle up carefully with both hands.
Geom Muyang turned back toward the window.
A younger brother who wanted to share Gongcheong Stone Milk with him?
When had their relationship become like this? It felt like only yesterday that they had hated each other enough to talk of killing and sparing. In truth, the emotions from back then were still vivid. That was why moments like this sometimes felt unfamiliar.
Then Geom Mugeuk’s low voice came from behind him.
“I’m afraid.”
When Geom Muyang turned around, the playfulness had vanished from Geom Mugeuk’s face.
“I’m afraid I won’t be able to stop the bastards behind all this. As you saw this time, they’re persistent enough to endure and prepare for decades, aren’t they? What if someone even more vicious appears, and I can’t handle him?”
Geom Muyang stared at his younger brother for a moment, then abruptly said,
“Are you fighting alone?”
As if he had been waiting for those words, Geom Mugeuk held out the bottle containing the Gongcheong Stone Milk.
“That’s why I’m saying we should drink it together and fight together. I’m not giving it to you for your sake. I’m giving it to you for mine. So you can protect me. If you keep refusing, I’ll issue an order as acting Cult Leader.”
How could he stop someone who went this far?
Geom Muyang said calmly,
“Then just one drop! No more.”
“Fine. Even if I wanted to give you more, there are only a few drops.”
“Let me drink it and leave the rest.”
“I’m eating mine later.”
When Geom Muyang held out his hand, Geom Mugeuk shook his head and said,
“Open your mouth.”
“What?”
“How can I trust you with this? What if you say you’ll drink just one drop, then swallow it all in one go and call it a mistake?”
Geom Muyang looked dumbfounded.
“I’d rather not drink it.”
“Then you’re admitting my guess is right. You were trying to gulp it all down and failed.”
Geom Muyang glared at Geom Mugeuk with an expression that said, Is this bastard really insane?
Geom Mugeuk shamelessly faced him down.
“If you’re innocent, open your mouth.”
In the end, Geom Muyang parted his lips slightly.
“Don’t close your mouth carelessly! If it spills, we’re ruined.”
After emphasizing that, Geom Mugeuk tilted the bottle without hesitation.
Drip, drip, drip!
Three drops fell in succession. When the first drop entered, there was no time to close his mouth or anything of the sort.
To the flustered Geom Muyang, Geom Mugeuk shouted,
“Talk later and circulate your qi first!”
It was not a situation where he could be stubborn, so Geom Muyang immediately sat cross-legged and began dissolving the medicinal effect.
Geom Mugeuk poured all the remaining Gongcheong Stone Milk into his mouth.
Drip! Drip!
There were two drops of Gongcheong Stone Milk left.
Thus the two brothers sat side by side and dissolved the power of the Gongcheong Stone Milk within their bodies.
No protector was needed. Geom Mugeuk’s realm had now reached the point where, even if a problem occurred, he could briefly stop dissolving the medicinal effect, respond to it, then resume.
Geom Muyang was experiencing something new.
Even one drop contained tremendous energy, yet this was three whole drops! At the vast power he felt for the first time in his life, all his blood vessels opened their paths at once.
Following the flow of his true qi, the energy of the Gongcheong Stone Milk began to melt into his blood vessels.
Saaaaak, saaaaak!
Each time it dissolved, powerful energy was transmitted into his blood vessels. The thrill of that moment could not be expressed in words.
Geom Muyang dissolved the energy carefully, yet boldly.
When all three drops of Gongcheong Stone Milk had been absorbed, that energy rode through his blood vessels and raced fiercely.
It was a charge. A tremendous surge of power unlike anything he had ever experienced.
The energy that had been rampaging wildly gathered into his dantian and merged with his existing internal energy.
The next instant!
As if exploding, the grand internal energy filled his dantian to the brim, and rapture spread across Geom Muyang’s face. Of all the pleasures he had ever felt in relation to martial arts, the joy he felt now was greater than any of them.
After calmly gathering and settling his internal energy, Geom Muyang opened his eyes.
Grand internal energy was surging in his dantian, and his two eyes had become even clearer and deeper. His body felt light, and it was as if his skin gave off a glow. He could vividly feel that he had grown stronger.
The effects of the Gongcheong Stone Milk were not limited to increasing internal energy. It had thoroughly cleansed his blood vessels and made his internal energy even purer.
Geom Mugeuk, who had finished circulating his qi first, was looking at him.
He had probably waited without even breathing heavily until Geom Muyang finished.
“Isn’t it amazing?”
This, at least, he could not deny. It truly was amazing.
Geom Muyang silently nodded and asked,
“Why did you give me three drops?”
“Damn it! You think I wanted to? My hand slipped.”
Geom Mugeuk looked indignant.
“I’d rather drop my sword while fighting an enemy.”
That was nonsense. There was no way Geom Mugeuk could have failed to control that, so he had intended to give him three drops from the start. He had been had by this bastard again.
“At least I was lucky two drops were left. If I’d poured it all in, I would’ve cut your belly open.”
Instead of claiming credit, Geom Mugeuk chose to play the villain.
“You think I spared you for nothing in the succession fight? You’ll spend your whole life suffering while looking after your younger brother. Prepare yourself.”
Geom Muyang did not say thank you. If it meant looking after this bastard, three drops of Gongcheong Stone Milk were not enough.
Geom Mugeuk sprang to his feet.
“Let’s go out.”
“Where?”
“We came to Wuhan. We should look around the marketplace.”
Just as Geom Muyang was about to say he did not want to, Geom Mugeuk was one step faster.
“We came all the way to Wuhan, so we should buy Father a gift. Are you not going to buy one? Ah, our poor father, who only loves his eldest son. When will he ever receive a gift from that eldest son……”
Before his words grew any longer, Geom Muyang rose from his seat.
* * *
The marketplace in front of the Murim Alliance headquarters was crowded with people.
Shops lined both sides of the street, and peddlers with street stalls called for customers in hoarse voices.
Countless passersby came and went.
Into that bustling street appeared Geom Mugeuk and Geom Muyang.
Geom Mugeuk strode about with his face exposed, but Geom Muyang had pulled a bamboo hat low over his head.
“Brother, no one’s looking. No, even if they do, so what?”
But Geom Muyang did not take off the bamboo hat. For a demon cultist to walk around Wuhan with his face exposed was something only his younger brother could do.
“Have we ever walked through a marketplace together like this? This is the first time, right?”
When he had traveled with their father, he had once walked through a marketplace with him. Today, he was walking with his older brother. Someday, surely, there would come a day when the three of them walked together.
He had thought his brother would simply walk while looking straight ahead, but unexpectedly, he looked around here and there as he walked.
It seemed he really was choosing a gift for their father.
Just then, from a cart selling dumplings, a merchant shouted loudly,
“Come taste dumplings so good that if two people eat them and one dies, the other won’t notice!”
At those words, Geom Mugeuk turned to his brother and said,
“Killing either of us would be hard to begin with, so I don’t think we’ll be able to feel that kind of flavor. Still, shall we try some?”
Geom Mugeuk dragged his brother over there.
They ordered a plate of dumplings and tasted them, and for street food, they were quite good.
“Have you ever bought food and eaten it standing on the street?”
At that, Geom Muyang shook his head.
“How does it feel?”
“I want to kill one person and eat quietly?”
Geom Mugeuk burst into loud laughter. It was a precious joke from his brother, so he had to laugh loudly.
As they ate the dumplings, the two of them looked around.
People arguing while haggling, a woman running with food in a bowl, children chasing after a taffy seller, passersby stepping aside to avoid men carrying loads on their backs.
That was when Geom Muyang saw it. He saw Geom Mugeuk smiling as he watched them.
Watching lives he himself had never once paid attention to in his entire life, what was his younger brother so happy about that he smiled like that?
Geom Mugeuk put the last remaining dumpling into his mouth.
“Since my Gongcheong Stone Milk was stolen, I should at least get to eat this.”
Geom Muyang let out a hollow laugh.
Then the two of them began walking again.
As they walked through the marketplace, Geom Muyang looked at one shop.
Geom Mugeuk sensed that the look in his brother’s eyes as he gazed there was different from when he looked elsewhere. It was a shop that sold musical instruments.
“Let’s go in and have a look.”
Geom Mugeuk went in first, and Geom Muyang followed after him.
“Brother, is there any instrument you know how to play?”
“No.”
For someone who said that, the look in his eyes as he had gazed at this place had been different.
“Well, of course. What instrument would you know how to play? Seeing as I have no sense of pitch, you must be the same. I’ve never seen Father play an instrument either, so it’s all in the blood, the blood! All we know how to do is kill people!”
Just then, a sound came from behind him.
Startled, he turned around and saw that Geom Muyang had begun playing a danso.
When he blew breath into the danso, a beautiful sound flowed out.
The melody spread, piercing through the surrounding noise.
Geom Mugeuk’s eyes widened.
He was not just trying to play it. His brother was properly performing a song.
Because he had never dreamed his brother knew how to handle an instrument, he was truly surprised.
It was another moment that made him realize how difficult it was to truly know someone, no matter how hard one tried to see them well.
Was it because he felt his brother’s heart was contained in this music? Listening to it felt so good.
When the performance ended, applause burst out from behind them. He turned to find that people who had been passing by had stopped and gathered at the entrance of the shop.
Geom Mugeuk shouted at his brother,
“What is this? Why are you good? Why are you good at it!”
The owner of the instrument shop also expressed his surprise.
“Your performance was truly excellent.”
Perhaps burdened by the praise from the people gathered outside and from the owner, Geom Muyang went out.
Geom Mugeuk quickly bought the danso and chased after his brother.
“Why did you buy that?”
“Because you played it, this danso’s price has already gone up a thousandfold. And perhaps we might have use for it again soon.”
When Geom Muyang looked at him as if asking what he meant, Geom Mugeuk changed the subject.
“You seem like a different person. If you laid your enemies’ corpses all around, let your hair flutter in a bloody wind, and played the danso once! Magnificent, truly magnificent! All the women would collapse!”
“They’d collapse from fear.”
It was right then.
Splash.
A cargo cart passed by, and muddy water splattered onto his brother’s pants.
But Geom Muyang paid it no mind at all and continued walking.
“I thought a true bloody wind would blow and the Wuhan marketplace would be massacred.”
At those nonsensical words, Geom Muyang, who was walking ahead, laughed silently.
Geom Mugeuk could feel it. His brother was enjoying this moment too.
Yes, smile like that and go around a little. How nice it is to see.
Geom Mugeuk found this time with his brother deeply enjoyable.
The two of them looked around at this and that. Geom Mugeuk had been the one to bring up a gift for their father, but the one now searching more seriously was Geom Muyang.
However, there was no gift that particularly pleased them.
Geom Mugeuk held up a pair of pajamas and asked,
“How about Wuhan-brand floral pajamas?”
At Geom Muyang’s look, which asked whether he was in his right mind, Geom Mugeuk shook his head.
“Ah, you haven’t seen it, have you?”
Geom Mugeuk quietly put the pajamas down.
“No, never mind. The shock would be too great for you.”
As they walked through the marketplace again, Geom Muyang’s gaze stopped in one place.
An elderly painter was sitting in place, drawing portraits of people who passed by.
For some reason, Geom Muyang walked over and sat down in front of the painter.
Geom Mugeuk followed after him with a startled expression and asked,
“What are you doing? You’re scaring me.”
He was a brother who would never in his life sit in a place like this.
“You sit too.”
“Me too?”
Even more surprised, Geom Mugeuk sat beside his brother.
Don’t tell me he wants to leave behind a painting of us together?
As if that was truly the case, Geom Muyang took off his bamboo hat for the first time since coming to the marketplace.
After revealing his face, he said to the painter,
“Draw us together. I’ll pay you more, so please draw us as well as you can.”
The painter began moving his brush with care.
Geom Mugeuk looked at his brother with a surprised face.
It was surprising enough that they were having a picture drawn together, but he even asked the man to draw it well?
“Who are you? Where did our brother go, and why are you pretending to be him!”
Even at Geom Mugeuk’s jest, Geom Muyang’s expression did not change in the slightest. On top of that, he went one step further.
“I’m going to have this painting made into a hanging scroll.”
“What?”
Geom Muyang said something he had never expected.
“I’ll have it made and give it to Father.”
“!”
Only then did Geom Mugeuk understand his brother’s intention. This was the gift for their father.
Because there could be no greater gift for their father than a picture of the two brothers standing side by side.
“They say there’s no younger brother quite like the elder brother. Were you always this smart?”
“Look forward.”
Geom Muyang added bluntly,
“Or that ugly face of yours will come out strange.”