Chapter 67: He's At That Age

TL: FoodieMonster007

The next day, I went to see my father. I was there to report on the incident with the Heavenly Wind Cult Leader.

Father would already know the gist of it, since it was an internal cult matter, but me reporting to him personally was completely different from him receiving a report from Sama Myeong.

As it happened, my father was training. I waited outside until a message told me to enter.

"He says to come into the training hall."

A voice spoke from the empty air. It was Hwi, my father's bodyguard. I had not heard his voice in a long time.

"It's been a while, sir."

"Yes, Young Master."

A short reply came back. I remembered walking through the Demon Village as a child, holding Hwi's hand. I think I pestered him for street food. In any case, the memory was a pleasant one.

"Sir, we should see each other sometime. I'll treat you to a meal."

"……"

"Please be comfortable, sir."

I could not know how he would take my goodwill, or what his current feelings toward me were. It was a pleasant memory for me, but for him, it might have just been an uneventful day.

Still, I had to stay on good terms with him. He was the person my father trusted most.

I prepared myself and entered the training hall.

Just as I expected.

Today, too, my father attacked me with the Hell Step.

I used the Vanishing Step to dodge, then parried my father's Heavenly Demon Sword with the Black Demon Sword. It was the first time the two blades had clashed, a much riskier move than simply evading. Father instantly recognized my improved skill.

"Your skills have improved!"

Father had also attacked with a much higher level of the Hell Step, yet I had blocked it in an even more dangerous manner.

"Of course they have to improve. I probably train in martial arts the most in our Cult. No, I guess I'm second. Lee Ahn trains the most."

"Why don't you think you're third?"

From this, I guessed just how diligently my father was training in the Four Strides of the Wind God.

Father, you're doing well. You must achieve complete mastery. You absolutely must!

I walked out of the training hall with my father. We spoke as we walked side by side.

"What brings you here?"

"The Heavenly Wind Cult Leader wants to join me. I think there's been a split with the Eight Demon Supremes. Did you know about this?"

I did not mention that he had passed the Spacetime Manipulation Technique to me. This was something the Heavenly Wind Cult Leader would not want known externally either.

Father saw the core of the matter.

"It was arrogant of the Demon Supremes to drag the Heavenly Wind Cult Leader all the way here. They should have gone to him to resolve it. If they intended to bring him, they all should have gone to ask."

"They wounded the Heavenly Wind Cult Leader's pride."

He might have many reasons for pushing to advance into the Central Plains, but as I considered them, it occurred to me that his wounded pride might truly be at the very bottom of it all.

"The things you neglect as trivial end up becoming the biggest problems. This incident is clearly the Demon Supremes' mistake."

I glimpsed my father's anguish. If he had his way, he would probably want to pit the Demon Supremes against the Heavenly Wind Cult Leader, watch the fight, and then get rid of the ones lacking loyalty.

However, if they, the main force of our Cult, were to fall, the Murim Alliance would obviously come charging in. For my father, the Eight Demon Supremes were truly a necessary evil.

"Then why did the Heavenly Wind Cult Leader come to me instead of visiting you, Father?"

Father's answer was firm.

"The first reason is that he finds me difficult. The second is that he thinks you're easy to use."

"What's he trying to do by using me?" I asked, feigning ignorance.

"Ask your strategist that question."

"But I don't have a strategist, do I?"

"You must find one."

"Where am I supposed to find someone as brilliant as Strategist Sama?"

Father just scoffed.

"That's the confidence of someone who has one!"

Truly, finding a strategist as brilliant as Sama Myeong was my greatest task.

"Aren't you doing well enough without a strategist?"

"Thank you for saying so, but most of my successes have been due to good luck."

I navigate situations based on my many experiences from before my regression, but I am no genius myself. I desperately need a strategist with foresight sand insight to assist me.

"Please just answer this one question. What does the Heavenly Wind Cult Leader want?"

Father stopped walking and answered. "His dream is to advance into the Central Plains."

"But isn't he someone who won't leave his throne because he's guarding a sacred object?"

"That's just his obsessive personality."

"So his dream is to advance into the Central Plains."

In my life before regression, the Heavenly Wind Cult Leader had failed to advance into the Central Plains. Because Hwa Mugi had swept through the murim, he could not dare set a single foot in the Central Plains and ended his life in the Outer Regions.

But with my regression, his life was also changing. He had come to the Central Plains, a place he would not have originally come, and to our Cult of all places.

"For generations, the Blood Cult of the Outer Regions has coveted the Central Plains. They've never once succeeded, but the desire to advance into the Central Plains is in their blood."

"Now I understand why he came to me."

It was all information I already knew, but I acted as if I had just learned it from my father. Sometimes, one must act like this, feigning ignorance even when one knows. It was not so much deceit as it was a form of respect for my father.

Most parents in the world would want their children to come and ask them things like this. Would my father be any different?

At least in this regard, he was no different. Otherwise, he would not have said what he did.

As he was about to go inside, my father added bluntly, "Since you're here, you might as well stay for a meal."

"……"

I love it most when my father tells me to stay for a meal.

But I did not say I was happy. If I did, he would surely never tell me to stay for a meal again.

He was by no means an easy father.

After my meal with my father, I returned to the Sanzu River Hall to find an unexpected visitor. The Demonic Buddha himself had come to see me.

"Welcome, Elder."

"I meant to come sooner, but I was delayed."

This was the first time I had seen him this up close. He was shorter than he appeared from a distance. His golden skin made me want to reach out and touch it, but the Demonic Buddha was undeniably, my brother's right-hand man.

"Here, please have a seat."

"Let's."

The Demonic Buddha sat down. He intensely disliked anyone looking down on him. He likely sat with his back so ramrod straight for that very reason.

"A dear friend of mine has had an important sacred object stolen, so how could I simply stand by? I came to see how the investigation is progressing."

"I am currently investigating the case myself."

"Is it true that a thief broke in?"

"True? What do you mean by that?"

When I asked with a straight face, he gave me a look that said, Are you asking because you really don't know?

"How can anyone believe that a thief broke into the inner court of our Cult?"

"Wouldn't it be harder to believe that the Heavenly Wind Cult Leader staged the whole thing?"

From the very beginning, we created a tense atmosphere.

A faint golden light swirled in his pupils. It was a phenomenon that only appeared in those who had achieved complete mastery of the Great Golden Mara Art.

Just how strong were the Demonic Buddha's martial arts? The Great Golden Mara Art that the Demonic Buddha had mastered was as tricky to deal with as the Soul-Stealing Demon's evil arts.

"If a thief truly did break into the inner court, the reputation of our Cult will be greatly damaged."

"That's true."

"Shouldn't we handle this quietly?"

"How so?"

"How about sending him back to the Outer Regions for now so he can't run his mouth? It's not as if his presence will help us catch a thief we couldn't catch otherwise."

He was clearly testing me. He was convinced it was a fabrication and likely believed I was helping with it.

"Do you think he would listen to a mere Director like me?"

"I heard the Heavenly Wind Cult Leader came to see you?"

"He came to pay his respects."

"The Heavenly Wind Cult Leader believes you will become the successor."

"He gave no such indication. Why do you think so?"

"Because he isn't a man who goes to see people. He's accustomed to people coming to pay their respects to him. For him to have sought you out, he must have seen the potential of a successor in you."

As he spoke, he constantly watched my reactions, trying to read my inner thoughts. I hate to say it, but that was an attempt even my father failed at.

"Second Young Lord, for the sake of our Cult, you must send him back."

His words were aimed at killing two birds with one stone.

If I tried to send him back, that would be good for him. If I refused this proposal, he could frame it as me not acting for the good of our Cult.

"No. In that case, we must not send him back."

"What do you mean?"

"As you said, he'll use this incident as a pretext to tarnish our Cult's reputation. So we must keep him here. At least as long as he's in our Cult, he won't be able to speak carelessly. I'll subtly let him know. If he wants to find his sacred object, he shouldn't open his mouth recklessly."

For a moment, the Demonic Buddha could not answer. Of course, he was not so naive as to come to remove a nuisance only to leave with another one.

"The Heavenly Wind Cult Leader is a slippery man. He definitely has other intentions."

"Then I'll pretend to join hands with him and find out what his intentions are."

"With such stubbornness, you seem destined to become an excellent Sanzu Hall Director."

"Mostly when it comes to matters I believe to be right."

The Demonic Buddha took that remark as a rebuke, as if I were calling him an unrighteous person.

Sensing an opportunity, the Demonic Buddha quickly formed a hand seal.

The Turning Scripture Light Stamp!

A golden radiance instantly burst from the Demonic Buddha's body.

This light, more intense than the sun, momentarily blinds an opponent. For masters at the Demon Supreme level, that fleeting moment was an eternity, enough time to choose a fatal point to strike, or even two.

I closed my eyes too.

But before I did, I could tell the light had almost no effect on my eyes. I could clearly see the golden light pouring from his body and the Demonic Buddha moving at its center.

What shone in that moment was not the Great Golden Mara Art, but my Divine Eye Technique.

However, I deliberately closed my eyes. There was no need to reveal the full extent of my abilities to the Demonic Buddha.

When I opened my eyes again, the Demonic Buddha had pushed his face right up to my nose.

His face, which looked both like a child's and an adult's, felt strange.

The look in his eyes said it all.

If I had decided to kill you, you would already be dead!

He had every right to be confident. There were five hand seals in the Great Golden Mara Art. One could imagine how terrifying the subsequent attacks would be after being blinded like this, even without experiencing them.

I said nothing. I intentionally showed a startled and fearful reaction, though it was not quite terror.

Thinking this was a sufficient warning, the Demonic Buddha rose from his seat. He said the opposite of what the Blood Heaven Blade Demon had said when he first came to see me.

"I'd like to see you often. We can drink tea like this and talk. If you join me, only good things will come your way."

"You should talk a lot with my brother."

The Demonic Buddha smiled with satisfaction at my childish arrogance. "Yes, he's at that age. Well then, let's meet again."

"Take care."

As he left the room with short, quick steps, the tense expression I had deliberately put on relaxed. The room, once bathed in golden light, returned to normal.

Listen here, Demonic Buddha. It would be better for you not to see me often. So far, there are only three categories for the Demon Supremes who get involved with me. They became friends, are becoming friends, or are dead. Which category do you think you fall into? As of now, it doesn't seem like we'll become friends…So, are you confident you can create a fourth category?