Chapter 242 - When Else Would I Get the Chance?

The First Young Master, Geom Muyang, stood alone at the edge of a cliff on Mount Daecheon. Far in the distance, the buildings of the Divine Cult of the Heavenly Demon looked tiny.

He reached out a hand. Grasped like this, the entire Cult fit in one hand.

He opened the empty fist he had clenched in midair and recalled something Geom Mugeuk had once said.

["Brothers can't coexist in a struggle for power? They'll end up killing each other? Who the hell decided that? Why should we let ourselves be swayed by the precedents and suspicions of morons who couldn't even control their own desires? Don't even dream of letting them sway you. If you start worrying that I'll kill you, come find me."]

In that case, he should have gone to see him ten times by now. Lately, he had been having frequent nightmares. Every time, Geom Mugeuk smiled as he killed him.

["You're so naive, Brother. You believed everything I said? Well, that's how you ended up like this. You thought power could be shared? The greatest power in all Murim, no less? I'm grateful you're so naive, but you're pathetic. Truly pathetic."]

Then he would wake up cursing the bastard. He hurled every curse imaginable, but he was always the one who lost. And Geom Muyang knew. The words Geom Mugeuk spoke were, in the end, his own thoughts.

Geom Muyang had been busy lately, too. He handled Cult affairs, met demonic martial artists of various ranks, and traveled outside to deal with other matters. He had been sacrificing even sleep to get things done.

But he could not keep up with Geom Mugeuk's relentless progress.

He would wake up to find Mugeuk had become the Fist Demon's disciple. Wake up to find him scouring Thousand-Poison Forest for venomous insects. Wake up to find him leaving the Cult with the Wicked Laughing Demon. And then wake up again...

For he himself was not someone who could bark on a training ground, or run until he nearly died with the Wicked Laughing Demon on his back.

"Woooooo!"

He could almost hear the crowd cheering wildly for Geom Mugeuk. He did not want to be petty and small-minded, but it was hard to endure this maddening jealousy.

Just as he felt like letting out a scream, the Demonic Buddha arrived. His short stature and golden radiance were unchanged.

"You called for me?"

"Welcome."

The Demonic Buddha stood beside him at the cliff.

"The Wicked Laughing Demon has awakened."

"I heard."

Geom Muyang's voice was dry. The Demonic Buddha could tell he was in a foul mood. With the Demon Supremes turning to Geom Mugeuk one by one, how could he be otherwise?

The Demonic Buddha understood his feelings better than anyone.

"The Fist Demon still supports you, First Young Master."

The corner of Geom Muyang's mouth curled slightly.

"Though Mugeuk is his disciple."

He believed the Fist Demon's support would not last long, either.

"The Fist Demon separates personal matters from duty. He won't change his word lightly."

The Demonic Buddha quickly added, "The Poison King will support you as well, Young Master."

"While barking alongside Mugeuk on the training ground?"

"That put the Second Young Master even further from becoming successor. A future Heavenly Demon should never have done such a thing."

"Are you aware that Mugeuk has become even more popular within the Cult since that day?"

"The Cult Leader's wishes matter more than popularity. You are his eldest son, First Young Master, and since childhood, you have given him reason to believe you would succeed him."

The Demonic Buddha was trying to encourage him, but Geom Muyang asked in a dispirited voice, "When I look at the two of us lately, this is what comes to mind. A defeatist and a baseless optimist. Wouldn't you agree?"

"Who is the defeatist?"

Geom Muyang frowned slightly at the question.

Did Geom Muyang have any idea? The Demonic Buddha had been frustrated and disappointed so many times in their relationship that he had nearly succumbed to defeatism himself. He had pulled himself together time and again to make it this far.

He asked calmly, "I have never been optimistic. But even if I were, why would you consider it baseless?"

"Then do you believe I can become successor?"

The Demonic Buddha looked him in the eye and answered firmly.

"I do."

"That's the problem. You're that blind to the situation. While we stagnated and rotted, Mugeuk burst forth like a waterfall and flowed out to sea."

"However talented the Second Young Master may be, we only need to do one thing well."

"What is that?"

The Demonic Buddha raised his voice, as people did when shouting from a mountaintop.

"The First Young Master is better suited to lead the Cult!"

His shout echoed again and again.

When the echoes faded, he said, "We simply need to convince everyone of that. There's no need for wounded pride or anger because the Second Young Master has won the Demon Supremes' hearts. That alone is what you must accomplish."

Geom Muyang vented his frustration in a somewhat heated tone.

"You are truly exasperating! Do you honestly think I am better suited to lead the Cult?"

The Demonic Buddha spoke with conviction.

"Yes. You are."

"That's why I call your confidence baseless. Aren't you only staying with me because Mugeuk didn't choose you, and you had no other option?"

Geom Muyang blurted out words he should never have spoken, words that would deeply hurt the Demonic Buddha.

Unexpectedly, the Demonic Buddha was not particularly offended. They sounded like a cry of anguish.

Until now, Geom Muyang had always concealed his true feelings from him, leaving him wondering what he was thinking. Now, however, he was crying out in distress.

"Now that is a baseless claim."

At the Demonic Buddha's composed reply, Geom Muyang took a small vial from inside his robe.

"Do you know what's in here?"

"What is it?"

"Formless Poison."

The mention of Formless Poison startled the Demonic Buddha.

"Are you saying you intend to kill the Second Young Master with it?"

Geom Muyang answered without hesitation.

"There's no reason I couldn't."

The Demonic Buddha stared at him and asked, "Then why bring it out here? Invite the Second Young Master for a drink and slip it into his cup! Kill him!"

After pressing him like that, he tried in all sincerity to soothe him.

"You know you mustn't do that. The Second Young Master has declared that he will pursue the succession without bloodshed. If you poison him, no one will follow you. Neither the Demon Supremes nor the demonic martial artists beneath them."

Geom Muyang looked down at the vial.

"That's why... I'm considering using it on myself."

SMACK!

Geom Muyang's head snapped to the side.

The Demonic Buddha had leaped up and slapped him mercilessly across the face.

Stunned, Geom Muyang stared at him. Never in his wildest dreams had he imagined the Demonic Buddha would lay a hand on him. He was utterly shocked.

The Demonic Buddha held out his hand.

"Give it to me."

A cold force poured from his body along with his golden radiance.

Geom Muyang had never seen him this angry in his presence.

"Give it to me!"

Overwhelmed by his intensity, Geom Muyang handed him the vial.

The Demonic Buddha uncorked it and poured its contents straight over the cliff. Then he threw the vial away as well.

Neither spoke for a long time.

"I've never been hit before."

"I've never struck a member of the Cult Leader's family before, either."

He had expected the proud Geom Muyang to fly into a rage, but surprisingly, he was calm. Perhaps he would have exploded had the slap come when he spoke of killing Geom Mugeuk.

"I paid a lot for that poison. What a waste."

"The real waste is the time you spent entertaining such foolish thoughts."

The corner of Geom Muyang's mouth, curled all this time, returned to its normal position. He sat down. Until now, he had been looking down at the Demonic Buddha as they spoke. At last, their eyes were level.

"First Young Master, look up at the sky."

The Demonic Buddha looked up.

Geom Muyang, whose gaze had been fixed solely on the distant Cult, also turned his eyes to the sky.

The Demonic Buddha had not always been like this. Geom Muyang could feel how much both of them had changed. Everyone was changing as they became entangled with Geom Mugeuk.

"You must overcome your anxiety to become successor. If the Second Young Master has swept in like a typhoon, then become a rock. A rock that stands firm even in a typhoon."

Geom Muyang's eyes wavered. This man was sincere.

The last Demon Supreme he had left.

Come to think of it, the Demonic Buddha had been there from the beginning. He was the Demon Supreme who had stayed with him from the first to the very last.

"I'm no rock. I'm merely a pebble tossed about by the typhoon. Go to Mugeuk, Elder! He'll understand your feelings better than I do. He'll speak more eloquently and show you more consideration."

"That's precisely what I dislike. That is my role. Why should the Second Young Master do it? I am the older one. I should show consideration and understanding. Just as I am trying to understand you now."

Emotion welled up in Geom Muyang.

The last time he had met Geom Mugeuk, he had told him this:

["If you think the Demon Supremes are your people because they smile in front of you, you're sorely mistaken. In the end, at the final moment, they'll choose whatever benefits them."]

That was how he had viewed the world all this time.

"Why did you choose me?"

A gust of wind stirred their robes.

"I suppose I like you better than the Second Young Master."

The Demonic Buddha smiled as though joking, but Geom Muyang did not smile.

When his life had been driven to the edge of a cliff, someone was standing there to protect him.

The Demonic Buddha, only half the height of a grown man, stood before him like a giant.

"I'll head down first, then."

The Demonic Buddha bade him farewell and turned away.

"Demonic Buddha."

"Yes?"

"Actually, that wasn't Formless Poison. It was a remedy for internal injuries made by the Demon Physician. And I never had the slightest intention of drinking it."

"I know."

Geom Muyang was startled.

"You knew?"

The Demonic Buddha produced an identical vial from inside his robe.

"I have some myself."

"You hit me even though you knew?"

The Demonic Buddha smiled awkwardly.

"When else would I ever get the chance to hit you, First Young Master?"

Without waiting for an answer, he quickly turned and headed down the mountain.

Watching him go, Geom Muyang finally broke into an incredulous smile.

Geom Muyang rose as well. Instead of looking at the distant Cult, he looked up at the sky.

"... I'll end up losing if things continue this way."

Perhaps he had already lost.

Still, he could not simply give in. He resolved to do his best until the very end.

Somehow, he felt he would have no nightmares tonight.

* * *

"Are you going to keep getting on my nerves?"

The Blood Heaven Saber Demon looked up from his book at me.

I had been pacing around his room.

"I'm pondering something important."

"And I'm asking why you have to ponder it here."

"Maybe it's all the books, but being here makes me feel smarter."

"Then go ponder it in the Heavenly Demon Library. You'll become the smartest man in the world."

"But you aren't there, Elder."

I sidled up to him.

"What can I do? You're the person I think of when I'm in trouble."

"Don't you have that masked fellow you're so fond of? You're close enough to give him ten-thousand-year snow ginseng. Go ask him."

I fought back a laugh.

This crotchety man had occasional bouts of jealousy that did not suit him at all. The Blood Heaven Saber Demon was especially jealous of the Laughing Demon.

"Who could compare with you, Elder? Let the Laughing Demon stare at his wall in Villains' Valley."

"That's not it. You're leaving him alone so he can enjoy himself with the woman who came with him."

"You even know the mistress of Thousand Flowers Pavilion is here."

"Reports of every sort come pouring in all day, whether I want to know or not."

He returned to his book.

"So go discuss that Operation Golden Grand Plan, or whatever it's called, with the masked fellow or the drunkard."

I sat on the floor beside his reading spot by the window.

"I gave the operation a grand name, but I haven't worked out a single detail. You've read so many books. Surely one of them contains a solution?"

"Boy, books are where I go to rest and escape those ridiculous schemes. Find your answer out there."

"All right. I'll stay here with you until I find the answer!"

"Who gave you permission?"

The instant I flung myself toward his bed, an invisible force pushed me away.

"Don't lie on my bed in the clothes you wore outside!"

Using object manipulation through the air, he carried me to the door.

I leaned beside the window near the door and pondered.

"What exactly is troubling you?"

"This operation is difficult because it isn't simply about winning the Demonic Buddha over to my side."

"Why shouldn't you win him over?"

Surely the Blood Heaven Saber Demon knew why?

"Because taking even the Demonic Buddha away would corner my brother too much."

I was worried that my brother might then make a move he should never make.

But the Blood Heaven Saber Demon saw the situation differently.

"Would it, though?"

"Wouldn't it?"

After a brief pause, he said, "If even the Demonic Buddha turns away, wouldn't the First Young Master give up gracefully? I thought he was at least that much of a man."

"!"

It seemed I trusted my brother less than the Blood Heaven Saber Demon did. It was probably because he had tormented me when we were children. I had a preconceived notion that, cornered, he would resort to something underhanded and petty.

But my brother had relationships with the Demon Supremes independent of me. To them, he was someone who knew when to step down.

"You must give the First Young Master a chance to truly acknowledge defeat. The things you fear are more likely to happen when he still has lingering hopes."

The Blood Heaven Saber Demon, who had been speaking with his eyes on his book, looked up at me.

"When you crush someone, do it thoroughly. For the First Young Master's sake, too."

I gazed at him in silence.

"Why are you staring at me like that?"

"As I always tell you, Elder, I wonder how I'd ever live without you."

"And as I always tell you, you'd live perfectly well, sharing ten-thousand-year snow ginseng with the masked fellow."

"You're persistent."

"Yes, worry about my grudge instead. Why are you worrying about their relationship? How presumptuous."

I bowed respectfully to him.

"Thank you. You've helped me find the answer."

The Blood Heaven Saber Demon was right.

Only when I faced him with everything I had would my brother finally laugh in resignation and acknowledge defeat.

Halfhearted consideration would only wound his pride. I would win the Demonic Buddha firmly over to my side. That, in fact, would allow my brother's relationship with him to reach a new stage as well.

Leaving the Saber Demon's residence, I headed straight for the Demonic Buddha's quarters, bustling with mad monks.