As all eyes focused on me, I felt like I was standing all alone on a wide stage.
But I was not lonely.
The Evil Heart Laughing Demon was behind me, and the ones looking at me were my Demon Sovereigns.
In truth, they were my father’s Demon Sovereigns and stood on his side, but in my heart, they were my Demon Sovereigns as well.
Of course, there was one fact I must not forget.
This relationship with the Demon Sovereigns was only possible because I was my father’s son in the first place.
That is why this stage was important.
I had to handle this contest on this stage well.
Whether I won or lost, I too had to be dignified and noble.
Because this was the first stage for my father and me.
First, I must never damage my father's dignity and authority in front of the Demon Sovereigns.
That was the principle of this fight.
‘Father, do you know that I am even considering that? And how difficult a fight this is for me because of it.’
My father’s gaze turned to me.
I couldn’t tell how much of what I had said before had reached him.
The one who broke the silence was the Drunken Demon.
“Cult Master, I would like to offer the Young Cult Master a cup of wine. Would that be all right?”
At the Drunken Demon’s request, my father nodded.
The Drunken Demon poured wine into the Ice Palace Sacred Cup.
“Young Cult Master, take a cup of my wine and change your mind.”
Although he was siding with my father, the Drunken Demon’s true feelings were different.
-I don’t want to see the Martial World become a sea of blood, so use that brilliant head of yours to find a way!
Between my father and me, he had no choice but to choose my father, but the Drunken Demon was against the war.
This wine was a cup of support.
“I will drink it with gratitude.”
As I slowly drank the wine, I exchanged a telepathic message with the Drunken Demon.
—As you can see, brother, changing Father's mind is not easy.
—Still, you are the only one here who can do it.
“That was a fine drink.”
Just then, the Blood Heaven Blade Demon sent a telepathic message.
-Give up.
Your dream and the Cult Master’s are running on parallel lines.
They can never merge.
From his perspective, he had judged that no matter how much I tried to persuade him, I could not change my father’s wish.
The Blood Heaven Blade Demon was right.
How could a dream my father had cherished for so long be changed so easily?
I calmly asked my father.
“I would like to ask you this. Do you often think of that dream, Father?”
My father looked at me with an expression that asked what I meant.
“When we have a certain dream, at first we are excited and thrilled, but as time passes, doesn't that dream just become a matter of course?”
My father’s eyes wavered slightly.
For him too, that long-held wish must have become a dream that was ‘a matter of course.’
“Father, it is fine to have the same dream. But could you not dream it again from the very beginning? Dream it again from a state of having no dream at all. Not as a dream you’ve had since you can’t even remember when, but as a vivid dream of now.”
My father did not answer.
“While meeting the Demon Sovereigns this time, I thought constantly. Can I truly defy my father’s will? Do I have the right to do so? That’s why I even went to meet my Grand Strategist. I went to see him and solidified my resolve, but seeing you again, Father, my heart wavers once more.”
This was my sincere heart, conveyed to my father.
“That is how much I do not wish to defy your will, Father. Because I respect you more than anyone in the world.”
This was not flattery.
It was my true feeling for my father, revealed before all the Demon Sovereigns.
My father continued to listen to my words without any change in expression.
Today, my father was dealing with me not by speaking, but by listening.
Thanks to that, this stage was truly my solo performance.
“I know very well how important your dream, that wish and ideal, is, Father. The Demonic Path I spoke of is also a part of my dream. But I believe there is something just as important as that.”
“And what is that?”
“What to eat for dinner later, who to meet tomorrow. I believe that daily life is as important as a grand dream. I’m talking about the scenery we see in the process of moving toward our dreams.”
It was also the reason why, even with a formidable enemy like Hwa Mugi, I refused to be consumed by it and tried to live my own life.
It was a principle of life I had been protecting since my regression, but I couldn't know how persuasive my words, coming from someone so young, would be to my father.
But I did my best.
“Winning a game of Go against you is important to me, and fulfilling my wish to take a hot spring bath with you is also important to me. Traveling the Central Plains with you is also a fervent wish. If I see you sitting on the Grand Advisor's seat after achieving the Unification of the Martial World without having accomplished these things, will I truly be happy?”
And was that all? My gaze turned to the Demon Sovereigns.
“It’s important for me to spar with the Sword Sovereign, and it’s important for me to have late-night training with my Master. I want to read books next to the Blade Demon when he reads. I will dig for poisonous herbs with the Poison King, and watch the stone statues the Demon Buddha completes while drinking with the Drunken Demon. I will watch the Soul-Devouring Demon Sovereign grow. And I still have a lot of furniture I want to place in the Laughing Demon’s room. To me, these things are as important as my dream. Because when I look back just before I die, I will miss and regret all these moments so much.”
Moment by moment, it was incredibly lonely and difficult, but when I looked back after it had passed, life had gone by in the blink of an eye.
I had experienced it.
What I had to say from now on had to be said carefully.
“I think the dream you’ve cherished for so long, Father, was a dream with too few options. For someone walking the path of the Heavenly Demon, multiple signposts would not have been necessary.”
But my father’s thoughts were firm.
“Even if there were a hundred options, I would have chosen the same one. Even if there were dozens of diverging paths, I would have continued on the path I was walking.”
“I am not asking you to take a different path.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“I mean for you to look at the surrounding scenery as you go.”
So that sometimes, your steps might pause, and sometimes, you might grow curious about another path, and so that sometimes, you might even doubt your own path.
For that to happen, I must also walk the path with my father.
I must walk with him, talk with him, and when a view worth seeing appears, I must tell him to look there.
I realized while talking with my father that this was the only way to make him change his dream.
The realization immediately led to action.
“Father, will you make just one promise with me?”
Not only my father, but the Demon Sovereigns as well looked at me with curious expressions.
With everyone paying attention, my words continued.
“Yes, it is a promise between a martial artist and a martial artist. It is also a promise between the Cult Master and the Young Cult Master, and a promise between a father and a son.”
“What kind of promise?”
“Please give me time.”
“Time?”
I thought about how many years I would need.
I needed an amount of time that was not too short, yet not too long.
The exact time to achieve my goal.
“Please give me exactly five years from now.”
“And if I do?”
“I will ask you again then. If your dream is still the Unification of the Martial World even then, I will stand at the vanguard of that war.”
Not only my father, but all the Demon Sovereigns were stunned.
The Drunken Demon looked as if he wanted to shout, ‘No! What are you doing?’ at any moment.
On the opposite side, the eyes of the Evil Heart Laughing Demon were smiling.
Was he imagining himself standing side-by-side with me at that vanguard?
That I would stand at the vanguard of the war—this was the winning move I had thrown down.
Within five years, I would eliminate Hwa Mugi and his group, and within five years, I would change my father's heart.
Within that time, I would definitely make my father dream a new dream.
Five years.
A war isn't something you can wage immediately just because you want to.
Depending on the strategy, preparations could take several months, or as long as two or three years.
In that case, five years was not such a long time for my father.
If he won this bet, he could gain me.
Me, who had achieved Twelve-Star Great Mastery in the Nine Calamities Demon Art through the Heavenly Time Secret Art, right?
And would he only gain me? He could also get everything I had accomplished up to that point as a bonus.
It was certain that if I took the lead and helped, my father’s dream of Unification of the Martial World would draw even closer.
This promise was an official promise made before the Demon Sovereigns.
“I am now betting my life and making a promise to you, Father.”
“Will you not regret it?”
“Will you not regret it, Father?”
Our gazes intertwined in the air.
Everyone here knew that we were two people who would surely keep our promises once made.
That was why both my father and I had to make this decision carefully.
“Why five years?”
“This is about changing the mind of none other than my father. If it were up to me, I’d like to make it fifty years.”
“This is a fight where I only need to maintain this mindset. Five years will pass quickly. Are you still going to do it?”
“In that time, I will definitely change your mind, Father.”
That sneer formed on my father’s lips.
That smile, which gave a different feeling each time, held a sense of amusement today.
It felt as if he was asking, ‘The truth is, you want to fight too, don’t you?’
That must have been why.
My father readily nodded his head.
“Very well. I accept that promise.”
I reconfirmed this bet that would change everyone’s destiny with the Demon Sovereigns.
“Five years from now, on this day, I will gather all the Demon Sovereigns present here again and ask about my father’s dream. Let’s see the outcome on that day.”
In five years, Father’s dream will have changed.
You will speak of a dream that will startle every Demon Sovereign here.
I will make sure it happens.
“Thank you, Father.”
The Demon Sovereigns looked at me and my father with surprised expressions at this unexpected outcome.
Now, with a relaxed mind, I asked my father.
“Now that it’s all over, I’m asking, but your meetings with the Demon Sovereigns and all that, were you preparing for the Unification of the Martial World?”
But unexpectedly, my father shook his head.
“You say no?”
He was not one to answer such things with a lie.
With a surprised heart, I asked again.
“Then why did you meet all the Demon Sovereigns?”
“Meet them all?”
“You met the Laughing Demon, drank with the Drunken Demon, and helped the Poison King with his poison concoction.”
“That was only those three, wasn't it?”
He was right.
The Demon Sovereigns he met in person were just three.
And even then, he gave other reasons.
“I heard that you had put furniture in the Laughing Demon’s room. So I visited once.”
If that was really the reason, then my father must have had a change of heart recently as well.
“With the Drunken Demon, the wine poured into the Ice Palace Sacred Cup was so delicious that we simply drank together.”
“And the Poison King?”
“I heard that he needed a delicate Void-Grasping Hand. That he had failed in his concoction several times because he lacked such an assistant. So I simply went to help.”
I looked at my father.
I could not tell if he was speaking sincerely or not.
“I only met three, but you went around meeting them all.”
“…”
I asked my father with a startled expression.
“Then why did you gather everyone today? Wasn’t it to persuade me and unite the Demon Sovereigns?”
“No.”
“No?”
“Are you a child who would change his mind just because I persuaded you?”
Right, there was no way my father wouldn't know me.
“I received a report that you had been meeting all the Demon Sovereigns. You went around trying to persuade them, so I thought you should have a chance to wrap things up.”
In other words, this gathering was for me.
“Huh? Then why did I make the five-year promise?”
“You brought it up first. I said nothing.”
In fact, my father had yet to say directly what his dream was.
I shouted at the Blood Heaven Blade Demon as if to protest.
“You said that my father might have begun to move in earnest to achieve his dream!”
“I said he might.”
Next, to the Fist Demon.
“You said my father was already at war?”
“Isn’t a father with a son like you always at war?”
“That’s what you meant?”
“What other meaning could there be?”
And to the Demon Buddha as well.
“You said my father created this stage?”
The bright radiance of the Demon Buddha faded.
“Did I say that? I’ve been so out of it lately. I should go and finish the statue I was making.”
I looked back and forth between my father and the Demon Sovereigns.
“Right? I was played, wasn’t I? You all planned this from the start, right? That’s it, right?”
Just as I was clutching my head with a pained expression, the Poison King, who had been standing at a distance, suddenly sent a telepathic message.
-The one who was played was the Cult Master.
He was reading my mind exactly.
-If a war breaks out, you will participate anyway.
The you I know would ask the Cult Master to let you stand at the vanguard.
Because you would try to minimize the damage from the war.
I turned to look at him and smiled.
He was right.
If I disliked the war, would I go into seclusion? Or would I side with the Martial Alliance? In any case, if I couldn't stop it beforehand, I would have to jump into the war.
Although I feigned being played, this was not a loss.
It was, rather, a match in my favor.
At least for the next five years, I wouldn’t have to worry about a war.
—Do you really think the Cult Master doesn’t know your scheme?
-He probably knows.
I could tell just by the look in my father’s eyes as he watched me.
But that didn’t mean he was going to go easy on me.
By giving me a chance, my father was also saying, let’s have a proper showdown.
Not a one-day match, but a grand contest spanning five long years.
The fate of the Martial World hangs on this contest.
Until then, I will definitely achieve Twelve-Star Great Mastery in the Nine Calamities Demon Art and kill Hwa Mugi.
And I will also fight a battle more difficult than that one.
Showing my father that there is a better dream than the Unification of the Martial World.
Walking with my father and letting him see the scenery he has not seen until now.
The empty Grand Advisor's seat.
Now, the empty Grand Advisor's seat that came to my mind no longer had the frightening feeling it did before.
Its absence would be for a different reason.
Father, now you will have to go here and there with me.
Because I now have a justification.
As if he knew my thoughts, my father spoke with a faint smile.
“It will be reassuring to have you as the vanguard leader.”