The Hero Returns

Pang—

As soon as Sun Wukong finished saying that, his hand that was pointing toward the sky curled into a fist and smacked into his other palm.

His powerful aura exploded in every direction, along with the sounds of air rupturing. It might have looked like a simple and almost playful action, but Su-hyeun could sense the intense hostility and the dense concentration of energy within the spreading aura.

"He's not messing around," he thought.

His desire to beat up the Jade Emperor might have sounded like he was simply kidding around, but the truth was far from that.

There was a clear murderous intent in that. Watching Sun Wukong's playful side for the past five days or so but then abruptly witnessing a scene like this, Su-hyeun couldn't help but think that he should have expected that from him.

Here was the existence waging a war against the Heavenly World, an existence they couldn't kill, so they decided to confine him inside the eight-way trigram Crucible.

That was exactly what Sun Wukong, the Great Sage Heaven's Equal, was.

"Even then, a guest has come from afar to visit us. Isn't it only correct to listen to what the other party has to say first?" the Bull Demon King said.

"Well, we can listen after smacking him around a bit, right?"

"You're being rude. Looks like you should get beaten up first before the Jade Emperor."

"…Sorry."

Sun Wukong was prideful and obstinate, except when he was in front of the Bull Demon King.

Not too long afterward, the fighting spirit slightly oozing out from his body receded.

Su-hyeun alternated his gaze between these two before pointing in the direction where Sun Wukong came from on his Somersault Cloud. "Someone's coming," he said.

"I already said that, didn't I?"

Step, step—

A white-haired old man walking leisurely, following behind Sun Wukong, finally revealed himself.

"The stinking Jade Emperor has descended."

It was the Jade Emperor indeed.

Su-hyeun openly stared at the old man. The latter was the top "god" of the Heavenly World and was fittingly referred to as the emperor. More importantly, though, cutting his head off was the final goal of this trial.

"It's been a while, oh Great Sage who Pacifies Heaven."

"Likewise, Jade Emperor. You've grown old, I see."

The two greeted each other as if they were old friends.

Even though they were supposed to be enemies, the Bull Demon King still welcomed the Jade Emperor with a smile. Sun Wukong's expression was indescribably stiff as he watched on.

"Although this place would not match up to your standards, please do take a seat anywhere you like. I hope you won't be too critical of the poor reception on our part."

"No, it's quite alright. I'll be accompanied by nature this way, so I'm rather pleased with the arrangement."

The Jade Emperor replied thus and chuckled affably.

Su-hyeun furrowed his brows while studying the Jade Emperor. He found it rather suspicious that this old man could still chuckle so leisurely even when Sun Wukong and the Bull Demon King were right in front of him.

However, the reason soon became apparent.

"He's not alone," Su-hyeun realized.

Su-hyeun lifted his head toward the sky and the Heavenly World beyond the clouds.

He spotted an army hidden behind the clouds right above their heads. He could even sense several incredible auras mixed among the ranks of this vast army.

"So, the one next to you, is he that human? The man who rescued the one and only Great Sage Heaven's Equal?"

"It is indeed him. As it is the duty of the big brother, I've decided to teach him a few tricks to express my gratitude."

When the Jade Emperor stared at Su-hyeun with a sharp glare, the Bull Demon King nodded his head and replied.

The Jade Emperor realized that Su-hyeun had spotted the Heavenly World's army in the sky when the latter raised his head.

But the god's attention shifted back to the Bull Demon King eventually. The latter remained the same as before with not even a hint of unrest. This stoic sight caused a surprised expression to surface on the Jade Emperor's face.

"A duty of a big brother…But that's only applicable to humans and Yogoes, isn't that so, Pacifier of Heaven?"

Even though the contents of the conversation involved Sun Wukong, the Bull Demon King's expression didn't change.

The Jade Emperor had been curious as to why this Yogoe didn't try to rescue Sun Wukong when he was trapped in the eight-way trigram Crucible for the past several hundred years, but this meeting had resolved that question.

The Bull Demon King who was about to join the ranks of the true gods was spending his last days with Sun Wukong to get rid of his lingering attachment.

"You are not wrong there."

"You've finally taken a step into the ranks of godhood, I see. Congratulations!" he laughed as he said this.

But complicated sets of emotions flashed past in the Jade Emperor's expression.

He too was aware of it. He was aware that although they were referred to as the Heavenly World's gods, they were not really gods at all.

"A god, huh?" Su-hyeun thought.

He also dreamed of becoming a true god one day but failed to do so and, eventually, grew old.

However, the Bull Demon King was different.

He lived a life close to immortality where he didn't age a single day. He looked exactly the same since the day the Jade Emperor was born.

And now?

The Emperor had become a white-haired old man, while the Bull Demon King retained the same face as before.

"But it truly is a relief that you, the Pacifier of Heaven, won't participate in the upcoming battle."

His complicated thoughts only lasted briefly.

The Jade Emperor realized that the Bull Demon King would not get involved in the war against the Great Sage Heaven's Equal and grinned deeply.

The moment he arrived, the emperor thought about starting a war right away. That was why he chose to bring the Heavenly World's army with him.

"But finishing the war in this place will prove to be rather difficult, won't it?" the Jade Emperor said.

The Bull Demon King's emotions had grown faint after nearly reaching godhood, which meant that thoughts of aiding Sun Wukong or animosity against the Jade Emperor had pretty much vanished by now.

However, waging a war in this place that could be seen as the Bull Demon King's home turf would change the story drastically.

"Fighting against an enemy that invades your territory is an obvious course of action unrelated to your emotion, after all," Su-hyeun realized.

If that happened, the Bull Demon King, an existence that had joined godhood, and the Jade Emperor would become enemies for real.

"I fear that this would be the last time we would be meeting this way. You won't stay in this world for long, after all."

"That could very well be the case. However…"

The Bull Demon King nodded at the Jade Emperor's words and shifted his gaze over to Su-hyeun next.

The latter had been staring at the leader of the Heavenly World nonstop until now.

The Jade Emperor had been ignoring that so far, but now that the Bull Demon King had looked toward the human, he had to shift his gaze as well.

The human was certainly not ordinary. Even then, the emperor didn't pay him much attention.

"It seems that he's been teaching this human something recently, but…" the Jade Emperor's thoughts trailed off.

The Sage Arts were incredibly difficult to master in the first place. This field of study was so difficult that even if you spend 100 years from the day of your birth practicing it, you would still not complete its foundational stage.

It meant that no matter how excellent the human standing there was, it should no doubt take him a considerable length of time to become halfway strong enough.

Therefore, the more pressing issue than the human was, as expected, the Great Sage Heaven's Equal.

"It'll be over by capturing this bastard," he thought.

Prisons like the eight-way trigram Crucible could be crafted at any time. Once he was captured, imprisoning him in an unbreakable cage for all eternity would not be impossible.

The Great Sage Heaven's Equal was an immortal being that could not be killed, but that didn't mean he possessed omnipotent powers like the Bull Demon King did.

"We've already won this war," the Jade Emperor thought smugly.

A faint little smile crept on his face.

But then, right at that moment…

"You wanna leave?"

Rumble, ruuumble—

When Sun Wukong opened his mouth, crackling noises of lightning bolts exploded from the clouds above.

"On whose authority?"

Rumble, ruuuumble—!

Flash—!

Powerful energy had spread out from Sun Wukong's body.

At the same time, lightning bolts whipped down from the clouds above. The bolts that fell on top of the Jade Emperor dissipated rather tamely, but the attack wasn't meant for him in the first place, anyway.

The emperor quickly raised his head toward the Heavenly World's army hidden within the cloud cover.

Their ranks had turned into pandemonium in an instant.

"You came here looking for a fight, so did you honestly think that I'd let you walk away scot-free?"

"Great Sage Heaven's Equal, you…!"

"I agree with him, actually."

Squeeze—

The Jade Emperor looked at Su-hyeun who was currently bending his body halfway back while gripping a spear tightly.

Giii-iiiing—

Magical power began permeating on the tip of the spear.

It amplified rapidly, which caused the Jade Emperor, who was previously glaring narrowly at Su-hyeun, to gradually open his eyes wider.

"Isn't this…?!" he thought.

[Wave Spear - Explosion Style]

[Dragon Slaying Spear]

[Flame]

Ruuumble—

The divine Flame now danced on the spear's tip.

The Jade Emperor saw the indigo-hued flame burning even hotter than the fires of the eight-way trigram Crucible on the spear and hurriedly raised his head to roar out loudly.

"Evade—!"

Roar—

His voice, loud enough to rock the heavens to the core, came out a beat too slow.

The spear had already left Su-hyeun's hand by then.

Flash—!

Chwa-rarararararahk—

The spear that flew out of his hand split apart into tens of thousands of strands and shot right into the heavens above.

The spears rained into the cloud cover and pierced past hundreds of Heavenly World's gods.

Each and every single one of those spears was enveloped in a massive amount of magical energy, as well as scorching heat. Since Su-hyeun had roused up as much magical energy as possible for the attack, its destructive power was quite considerable as well.

Rumble, ruuumble—

Boom, thud—

The Heavenly World's gods, resembling burning Swiss cheese, began dropping dead to the ground one by one. They had all been dealt with by either Sun Wukong's lightning bolts or Su-hyeun's spear attack.

"Oh, that's not too shabby, little bro."

"You should stop making a fuss and get ready," Su-hyeun smirked at Sun Wukong who gave him a thumbs-up. Then, with a hardened expression, he pulled out another spear. "We only managed to get rid of a few small fries, after all."

Go-ooooh—

Powerful auras emanated from above.

Those auras felt similar to what Su-hyeun was familiar with—magical energy—but these were also quite different at the same time. Those were the energy possessed by the Heavenly World's gods.

These great auras had been mixed up chaotically among each other, but the whole army did not emit it, just a handful of gods within its ranks.

"There are a few real big fish among them," he thought.

They weren't just boasting great numbers. Some of them were existences on the level that exceeded the "commander" class among the Heavenly World's gods.

Among them, two gods seemed to possess noticeably greater strengths than all the others.

"Erlang Shen and even Prince Nezha, too. Looks like you really were thinking of going all out today, weren't you?"

Great joy appeared on Sun Wukong's expression.

This was all because of his strong yearning for true warfare, particularly the one just about to take place after a long break. Sun Wukong welcomed this situation with open arms.

Su-hyeun's gaze was directed at the figure of the two beings within the clouds looking down on him.

Erlang Shen and Prince Nezha.

Both of them were Heavenly World's gods renowned for their strengths that rivaled the Great Sage Heaven's Equal.

"I shall take care of one," said Su-hyeun while locking his gaze on Prince Nezha.

The latter was also staring at Su-hyeun just then.

Sun Wukong stared at the two Heavenly World's generals that revealed themselves below the cloud cover and shrugged his shoulders. "Do what you want. Don't get killed, though."

"You don't have to worry about that."

Su-hyeun knew full well this battle wouldn't be the last one. That was why he also decided to hide at least one of his trump cards for later.

This fight would come to an end when the Bull Demon King decides to step in, so what he needed to do before that happened was crystal clear.

"We need to reduce their numbers as much as possible," Su-hyeun thought.

Su-hyeun and Sun Wukong were supposed to wage war against the Heavenly World. Of course, the former's goal was the defeat of the Jade Emperor, so he didn't need to fight the entirety of the Heavenly World.

But there was still a need to reduce the size of the Heavenly World's army in this battle, at least by a little. By doing so, he would get to enjoy better odds of victory later down the line.

"Big brother, do me a favor and don't interfere, please."

Snap, pop—

Sun Wukong cracked his knuckles as he glared straight at Erlang Shen. "Because I'm going to snap that bastard's neck for good today."

"Alright. Give it your best shot."

The Bull Demon King stared at both Sun Wukong and Su-hyeun with the same calm expression.

Only two beings hadn't made any moves in the battlefield—the Bull Demon King and the Jade Emperor.

The latter formed an unconvinced expression and looked over at the former and asked, "What are you scheming, Pacifier of Heaven?"

He thought that once a battle broke out in this place, the Bull Demon King would have jumped in personally, yet it looked as if the Yogoe was simply planning to watch from the sidelines.

The Jade Emperor couldn't read the Bull Demon King's intentions even back in the past, but trying to guess what was in his head was truly an exercise in futility now.

"Well, I wonder…"

The Jade Emperor heard the end of Bull Demon King's sentence fade out and chased after the latter's line of sight. He figured that questioning the Yogoe further wouldn't result in any satisfactory answers.

But the Jade Emperor saw an unexpected being as the object of that gaze.

"That human?" he realized.

He thought that the Bull Demon King would obviously be looking at Sun Wukong, but no, the latter was actually looking at Su-hyeun instead.