Chapter 181 - Not a Cliff to Climb

The Fist Demon was at the main training ground. Dozens of Iron Fists were practicing their fist arts, and he stood before them with his arms folded.

The Invincible Fist Demon, Dan Ugang. The supreme master of fist arts, reputed never to have suffered a single defeat.

He stood a full head taller than me, his entire body corded with muscle. His bronze skin looked as hard as steel, as though no sword or saber could penetrate it. His fists were exceptionally large—without exaggeration, each was the size of a woman's head.

If anyone deserved to be called a living weapon, it was the Invincible Fist Demon.

And there was one thing that drew the eye above all else. The Fist Demon looked truly terrifying. It would be no exaggeration to say that the demons depicted in the Cult's paintings and statues had been modeled on his face. It was a face that made me think we absolutely had to put him at the vanguard if war broke out between the demonic and orthodox factions. How many people in Murim would dare look that face in the eye?

The Fist Demon turned his head and looked at me.

Whatever he was feeling at the moment made no difference. His appearance alone was so chilling that, at the very least, he looked ready to pick a fight with me.

Of course, I held no prejudices about appearances. How often had I learned over the course of my life that a person's looks did not reflect their nature? How many perfectly ordinary-looking bastards had I seen kill people with a smile?

I bowed my head respectfully in greeting.

"My respects, Fist Demon."

But instead of returning my greeting, he turned back to the Iron Fists. He was pointedly ignoring me, but I didn't mind.

In the past, I would have read meaning into the gesture and let it wound my pride. Not anymore. Don't get worked up. Please, don't get worked up. Looking back, it will have been nothing.

If this was how he treated my first visit, he must have a reason.

I stood beside him and watched the Iron Fists train.

Under the blazing sun, they held a single stance, standing like statues. Not one of them moved, as though the world would end if they did. Then again, with the terrifying Fist Demon watching them, who would dare shift simply because they were tired?

The tension was suffocating, but fortunately, no one made a mistake that caught his eye.

How much time had passed?

At a shout from the martial artist at the very front, the Iron Fists assumed their next stance. They drew one of their two extended fists back to their waists and twisted their bodies sideways.

Once again, in another stance, they became statues for who knew how long. They poured their hearts into every single movement.

I considered this proper training. Of course, how many of them would truly understand its deeper purpose and make it their own was another matter.

After a watch, the training ended.

The Iron Fists dispersed, and the Fist Demon walked off to his residence. He ignored me thoroughly to the very end.

He must have heard the various recent rumors and reports about me, so this pointed disregard could be considered a kind of conversation in itself.

I imagined that frightening face breaking into a radiant smile at the sight of me. I imagined us trading jokes.

Fist Demon, when you treat me like this, that's the sort of thing I imagine.

I visited him again the next day.

But just as on the first day, he gave me one fleeting glance, then silently watched the Iron Fists practice their martial arts.

Though I was ignored just as I had been yesterday, no one laughed at me. Their discipline might have stemmed from fear of the Fist Demon, but I felt that the Iron Fists were the best-disciplined subordinates of any Demon Supreme I had seen so far.

Only when training ended did the Fist Demon speak to me.

"Second Young Master."

His voice was surprisingly gentle compared to his fearsome face. I had expected it to be deep and cold, but it was softer than I had imagined. It almost seemed that he was merely moving his lips while someone behind him supplied the voice.

"Why do you think I acted that way yesterday?"

"Was it perhaps because I visited during training?"

As though my answer were wrong, he turned and strode away. So you weren't going to make this easy? I smiled faintly as I watched him go.

I visited him again the next day.

I was the one making the visits, but he was the one prompting them.

This time, I changed the hour again and arrived before training began. As I sat on the railing outside the building that housed his office, passing Iron Fists looked at me as they went by.

The Fist Demon might have been ignoring me, but not one of them showed contempt in their eyes. Instead, their gazes held a quiet goodwill and respect. The Second Young Master of now was an entirely different person from the one I had been just after my regression.

Then the Fist Demon emerged from the building.

"Did you sleep well?"

He glanced at me, then walked on without a word. I fell in beside him as he headed toward the main training ground.

"I gave the reason a great deal of thought yesterday. Is it perhaps because I didn't visit you first among the Demon Supremes?"

I had met and formed ties with all the others, after all. Excluding the Poison King, he was the seventh.

He stopped and looked at me with that frightening face.

"Do I look that petty to you?"

"Then I suppose I'm the petty one. I think I'd be quite upset in your place."

He walked away without another word. As he receded into the distance, I called after him.

"I'll see you again tomorrow."

But I couldn't find him the next day.

Only the Iron Fists were training on the grounds. In his absence, I watched their practice to the end before returning.

I came away empty-handed for three days in a row. I couldn't tell whether he was deliberately avoiding me or had business elsewhere.

'So this is how you're going to play it?'

These damned Demon Supremes were all prickly and demanding. Not a single one was easy to deal with.

Let's see who gives in first, I thought as I turned to leave. Just then, an Iron Fist passing by quietly spoke to me.

"The Demon Supreme is at the small training ground right now."

When I gave him a look asking why he was telling me, he spoke softly.

"Something Yellow Springs Pavilion handled recently was a great help to my family."

With that, he bowed and left. Telling me must have been a difficult choice for him, but apparently he was very grateful for the Pavilion's work.

"Thank you."

I conveyed my gratitude through sound transmission as he walked away in the distance.

I went straight to the small training ground.

The Fist Demon sat there alone, lost in contemplation. Contemplation seemed an odd fit for such a huge, hulking man, yet the sight of him sitting cross-legged with his eyes closed suited him surprisingly well.

I spoke quietly from behind him. Without mentioning my three fruitless visits or how I had found him, I addressed him as though we had seen each other yesterday.

"Is my brother perhaps the reason you're keeping your distance? You've already decided to support him, so are you trying not to compromise that conviction?"

After a pause, the Fist Demon opened his eyes and spoke.

"Is that such a grand conviction that I'd mistreat someone over it? The people who ruin the world are all those with misguided convictions."

That was an unexpected answer. Judging by his appearance alone, I would have thought he would hold to any decision he made until his dying day.

"Then you might support me instead of my brother."

He closed his eyes again, as though to say the conversation was over.

I bowed my head respectfully.

"I'll be sure to come back with the answer tomorrow."

I could tell he was testing me in some way. Otherwise, he would have flatly told me not to come again. In any case, this wasn't bad. If we kept seeing each other, I would eventually find the answer to building a relationship with him.

Leaving the Eastern Fist School, I headed to the Southern Saber Sect to meet the Blood Heaven Saber Demon.

Curiously, he too was sitting in his courtyard, lost in contemplation.

"Is today a day for all the Demon Supremes to contemplate together? Then I suppose I should do some contemplating too."

I went over and sat beside him.

With his eyes still closed, the Blood Heaven Saber Demon spoke softly.

"You've been swinging a blade so hard you could die, and now you don't know how to deal with fists, do you?"

He knew exactly what situation I was in.

"How did you know?"

"How else? Word is everywhere that you've been going in and out of the Eastern Fist School lately."

"Word travels so fast. Those loose-lipped demonic martial artists!"

"Keep that up, and you'll lose all the fish you've caught."

"That's all right. I'll go catch them again. There are only seven, so I should at least have the fun of catching them a second time."

"Why seven?"

I gazed silently at him.

"Have you already caught and eaten me?"

I laughed loudly at his words. He must have found his own remark funny, because he laughed along with me.

"That is actually why I came to see you. What sort of person is the Fist Demon?"

"Most men who fight with their fists are stupid, but the Fist Demon is smart. Very smart."

A clever Fist Demon. That was probably why the Drunken Demon had said he couldn't beat him easily without serious resolve, and why Father had called our sides evenly matched despite it being four against three.

"A clever man's punches hurt more."

"Do you regret it? Wish you'd caught him before this old man?"

"First, let me say this. I don't know what sort of person the Fist Demon is, but one thing is certain. With the Saber Demon already on my side, I wouldn't envy anyone ten Fist Demons!"

I never begrudged using my Divine Art of Flattery on the Blood Heaven Saber Demon. Normally, if you kept flattering someone, a moment would come when you wondered what on earth you were doing. Not with him.

I wasn't worried about the Blood Heaven Saber Demon. Not because I treated him as a fish already caught, but because I genuinely liked him. When I had first asked him to become my left wing, I had done so because I needed a Demon Supreme.

But now it wouldn't matter if he wasn't a Demon Supreme, or even if he was the Cult's stable keeper. It wouldn't matter if he had no influence whatsoever on my becoming the successor. I liked the Blood Heaven Saber Demon for who he was. As long as that feeling didn't change, I wouldn't need to worry about our relationship.

"Do you know why the Cult Leader likes the Fist Demon?"

"Father likes him?"

"He doesn't say it openly, but he's probably his favorite among the Demon Supremes."

"Why does he like him?"

"Because the Fist Demon is mad about martial arts."

Then no further explanation was needed. He met Father's foremost criterion.

"And not just mad. Purely mad."

"And yet he's clever, you say? That's impressive."

"Impressive? You've met your match."

"I'll be all right with you here, sir. Truly, if you weren't here, who would I get advice like this from? How would I manage?"

"You'd manage just fine. Drinking with the Drunken Demon and gallivanting about with the Wicked Laughing Demon."

As ever, the Blood Heaven Saber Demon was jealous of the other Demon Supremes. Yet he was freely giving me information about the Fist Demon.

"You can't deny it, can you?"

"I'll visit again when I need to contemplate. Next time, I'll bring the Fist Demon too."

"Don't you dare!"

With that, I left the Blood Heaven Saber Demon's residence.

* * *

The next day, I went to see the Invincible Fist Demon again.

He was at neither the main training ground nor the small one. After searching here and there, I found him standing before a cliff within the Eastern Fist School. I knew the Cult's grounds were so vast that they contained a lake and all manner of things, but I hadn't known there was even a cliff like this.

"Did you sleep well?"

Again, he didn't return my greeting. That was all right. The mere fact that he let me roam freely through the Eastern Fist School meant he didn't dislike my visits all that much.

I stood beside him and looked up at the cliff.

"I think I've finally found the answer. But please promise me one thing first. Promise you won't get angry when you hear it. No, you can get angry, but promise you won't hit me with those fists."

He slowly turned to look at me. He didn't promise aloud, but his looking at me was enough.

"You wanted to show your subordinates something. Not 'I can dismiss someone like the Second Young Master without a second thought,' or 'I support the First Young Master, and you should all know it.' What you really wanted to say was, 'I have no interest in your succession struggle.' Isn't that it?"

Had I answered correctly? Instead of sending me away as he had before, he turned his gaze back to the cliff.

I too stopped dwelling on whether I was right and looked up at it with him.

"I didn't know there was a cliff like this on the Cult's grounds. You must be able to see the entire Cult from up there."

"This cliff isn't meant to be climbed."

"Then what is it for?"

His answer was astonishing.

"This is a cliff I will bring down with this fist. In a single blow!"

I was startled because I could feel that he meant it.

"You think it's an absurd goal, don't you?"

Even the Fist Demon couldn't bring down this cliff with one strike. Even Father couldn't do it.

"No. I was wondering why I've never had such a concrete goal myself."

I had never set myself a concrete goal in martial arts. Of course, that was probably because Hwa Mugi occupied that place.

It had been so long since I'd heard a martial artist speak of a specific goal. It stirred my heart.

"May I join you in pursuing this goal?"

"You want to cut through this cliff with a single sword stroke?"

"No. I want to try bringing it down with my fist too."

This time, it was the Fist Demon who was startled. He surely hadn't imagined I would give such an answer.

But I meant every word. I felt that if I could bring down this cliff with my fist, I could defeat Hwa Mugi too. No, even apart from Hwa Mugi, I wanted to attempt it as a martial artist. To the Fist Demon, who stared at me with a face as terrifying as an evil spirit, I said something even more surprising.

"Please teach me your fist arts."