The Hero Returns

Gu-wuwuwuwu—

The Yogoe Beating Mace [1] began descending.

One could say its falling speed looked slow. If one wanted to dodge it, then one would certainly be able to, at least once.

However, Su-hyeun knew full well that such an act held no meaning.

"Even if I dodge it, he can swing it around again," he thought.

The current incoming attack was nothing more than a single swipe of the Yogoe Beating Mace. Dodging it would only cause Nezha to swing it again in Su-hyeun's escape direction.

If he wanted to win, he couldn't just run around dodging attacks forever.

"A little bit more, just a bit more…"

Su-hyeun waited for the Yogoe Beating Mace to come even closer. More correctly, he was being as patient as possible in order to inject an even greater amount of power into his spear, all the while bending his body back to get ready to throw the weapon.

"A little bit more…"

And just as the gigantic Yogoe Beating Mace completely filled up Su-hyeun's vision…

"Now!"

The light in his eyes flickered, and then, his body that was bent backward snapped forward like a released bowstring.

Paaang—!

Fwhooooooosh—!

The spear flew like a streak of lightning. Then, it collided with the Yogoe Beating Mace.

Piii-iitt—

The collision caused all sounds to vanish.

The falling mace didn't stop. It continued to shatter the atmosphere and descended toward Su-hyeun's head. However, unlike before, he didn't feel the need to get out of the way.

Crack—

Initially, it started off as a small noise.

Then, cracks formed.

Crack, craaack—

Bang, shatter, ka-boom—!

The gigantic Yogoe Beating Mace shattered into countless pieces and fell to the ground.

While smashing away the weapon's debris with his fists, Su-hyeun stared straight at Nezha. His spear was already back in his hand before anyone realized it.

Nezha's surprise was bordering on sheer astonishment.

"My Yogoe Beating Mace…?"

The Yogoe Beating Mace, one of the six armaments symbolizing Nezha who was often referred to as the god of war, had been destroyed.

Pah-ahk—

"…!"

Su-hyeun's figure broke through the rain of the shattered mace's fragments and rapidly dashed toward Nezha.

The latter hurriedly swung the mace with only its hilt remaining. The spear that Su-hyeun's hand was spinning around smacked away the mace's hilt.

Clang—!

Numb—

Even if Nezha had to take a swing in a hurry and couldn't get into a proper stance, the impact force he felt through his hands was still far too severe.

"Why has his strength…?!"

So intense, in fact, he almost let go of the Yogoe Beating Mace's hilt.

Grit—

Nezha gritted his teeth and then materialized the Yogoe Slaying Sword again. He instantly raised it to hack Su-hyeun's body down into two halves.

Pah-ahk—!

Kwa-aaaaaht—

The sword split the ground below. For a brief moment just then, Nezha definitely witnessed Su-hyeun's torso being chopped into two pieces.

"What's this?" he thought.

He attacked first to counter his enemy, but he knew full well that his human opponent wouldn't fall that easily with such a simple strike, judging from their earlier exchange of moves.

But to think, the battle ended this easily?

Rustle—

Sure enough…

"He vanished."

Su-hyeun's figure, which was supposed to be hacked in half, disappeared like a fading mirage. And immediately after that, Nezha felt a chilling sensation on his neck.

Whoosh—!

A blade scything from behind narrowly missed and cut the air above Nezha's head as he ducked.

He spun around and swung the Yogoe Slaying Sword, prompting Su-hyeun's figure to leap and throw the spear he held in his hand.

Clang—!

Nezha deflected the spear with his sword and again felt the same suspiciously heavy impact as before.

He initially thought he had made a mistake, but he was now sure of it.

"He's become faster," Nezha realized.

Unlike earlier when an illusion was at play, the human had indeed gotten faster for real, so much so that he couldn't be compared to how he was like at the beginning.

Hu-woop, fuu-wuu—

Su-hyeun maintained the breathing technique as the light from his now-blue eyes gleamed brightly.

He didn't have a lot of time.

[Immortality]

Out of all the skills Su-hyeun currently possessed, this one could be referred to as his last hidden trump card.

"Immortality" greatly boosted not just the concentration of his magical energy and reserve but also his overall physical stats. However, its duration was only about five minutes, tops.

"I need to finish this within that time," Su-hyeun thought.

As long as time was not on his side, it wouldn't be wise to fight while creating distance.

Swish—

Paaaahk—

Right after throwing the spear in one hand, Su-hyeun activated "Leap" to rapidly close the distance once more.

Rather unsurprisingly, Nezha didn't try to evade. Not only did he not know much about Su-hyeun's skills, but he also believed that running away was the ultimate humiliation for a warrior.

Clang, claaang—!

Split, craaack, boom—!

Every time their blades collided, the ground below their feet split apart and, eventually, caved in.

Both of them fell below the crumbling ground. Somewhat strangely, there was an artificially constructed huge open space below the surface.

"Was this space meant for training?" Su-hyeun wondered.

Since this was practically right below the Bull Demon King's personal residence, Su-hyeun thought that the large space must have been created to facilitate his training regimen.

And this place would serve as his new battleground.

The place was so much darker compared to the surface, and it would definitely be harder to sense the enemy's attack even after he enhanced his vision with magical powers.

"Where are you looking at?"

Fwoosh—

Kwa-gagagak—

A sliver of light flashed, and at the same time, the Yogoe Slaying Sword flew in.

It wasn't difficult to respond, however. As long as his "Immortality" was active, Su-hyeun was definitely faster and stronger than Nezha.

Su-hyeun roused up his magical energy as much as possible, and Nezha wielded the Yogoe Slaying Sword and the Yogoe Rending Saber in each of his hands. They exchanged hundreds of moves in less than a minute.

"Now?" he thought.

Clang—

Yet one more time, the Yogoe Slaying Sword was deflected.

Su-hyeun was one step ahead in power and speed, but it was not enough to completely overwhelm his opponent.

For sure, wounds were gradually accumulating on Nezha's body, but that didn't mean much. His recuperative ability and endurance made ending this battle in five minutes so much harder.

That was why Su-hyeun was continuously searching for an opening.

"No, not yet. Just a little more."

Clang, claaang—!

Crunch—

A sword and a saber collided once more, causing the ground to cave in.

Ruuuumble—

Su-hyeun and Nezha fell deeper underground at the same time. The former activated "Leap," while the latter stepped on the air before the two of them dashed toward each other again.

Clang—!

It was right then that the Yogoe Rending Saber in Nezha's hand suddenly disappeared. He raised his now-empty left hand up and roared, "Imprison him, Yogoe Capturing Rope!"

Flash—!

A powerful flash of light exploded between Su-hyeun and Nezha.

Right at that moment, Su-hyeun held his hand wide open and whispered softly, which was a clear contrast to Nezha's shout.

"Come."

Chwa-rururu—

Circular steel beams suddenly materialized all around Su-hyeun.

They connected to each other like a magic circle and captured him within. Soon, they created spherical space to trap him in the middle and exert an enormous amount of pressure on him.

Giiii-iiiing—

Crunch, cruuunch—

Su-hyeun's face contorted from the powerful pressure crushing his body.

Nezha's sixth weapon—the Yogoe Capturing Rope—the famed capturing rope from which, never mind a Yogoe, not even a god could escape.

"I've finally got you," said Nezha with a victorious smile after confirming that Su-hyeun had been captured by the Yogoe Capturing Rope.

This item was capable of confining the Great Sage Heaven's Equal, Sun Wukong, in the past. Now, it had captured Su-hyeun.

Sun Wukong had consumed hundreds of Peaches of Immortality and came to possess an undying body, but Su-hyeun was simply a human no matter how strong he was.

All Nezha had to do to end the battle was to cut Su-hyeun's head off as the latter remained immobile within the Yogoe Capturing Rope.

"How lamentable. I thought our battle would last a little while longer and entertain me even more. I thought we would fight for three days and nights like how I did with the Great Sage, Heaven's—"

Drip—

But then, just as he raised the Yogoe Slaying Sword, a drop of warm liquid fell on his hand. With a puzzled face, Nezha looked down on the back of his hand.

"Blood?"

Drip, drip—

Blood continued to drip down.

Nezha raised his trembling hand and began feeling for the area of his body where the blood was coming from.

The blood that was trickling down his chest was coming from his neck. The moment he realized it, all strength suddenly abandoned him.

Keok—!

"Now that took me by surprise. I had no idea that you'd be alright even after ending up in that state," said Su-hyeun as he breathed a sigh of relief before taking another look at Nezha.

A spear pierced right through the god's throat.

Both Su-hyeun and Nezha had been searching for an opening.

Su-hyeun recalled his spear, planning to use its velocity to stab cleanly through Nezha's vital spot, while the latter was hoping to find an opening to capture the former using his trusty Yogoe Capturing Rope.

The first one to make a move was Nezha. He took out his new weapon, Yogoe Capturing Rope, and chucked it at Su-hyeun.

And that brief opening was exactly what Su-hyeun had been waiting for.

Break, tumble—

Su-hyeun managed to barely free himself from the Yogoe Capturing Rope using his hands. If Nezha was perfectly fine, he wouldn't have dreamed of freeing himself like that. After all, the armament's confinement power was so strong that not even the one and only Great Sage Heaven's Equal could escape from it.

[Immortality's duration has ended.]

[Stat points will reset to normal.]

Five minutes.

He had reached the skill's time limit. It felt as if at least half of the power seemingly overflowing in his body only a second ago had ebbed out of him.

"It's finally ove—" Su-hyeun's relief was interrupted.

Swoooosh—

Clang—!

Su-hyeun hurriedly raised his sword and deflected a blade that aimed for his face.

Tremble, tremble—

The attack was so sudden that he didn't have enough time to assume a correct posture nor use much of his strength. Thankfully, though, even Nezha's own sword didn't contain much power.

"It… It's not…over… yet…"

Fuu-wuu—

Su-hyeun came down from his shock and gave out a long sigh. Then, he shook his head as he looked at Nezha who had swung his sword just then even though a spear was piercing right through his neck. "Man, you're one persistent dude, aren't you?"

Act 7

Tsu-aaaahk—

Kwa-boooom—!

Sun Wukong's lengthened Ruyi Jingu Bang swept the Heavenly World's army away.

Although that was merely collateral damage from his battle against Erlang Shen, the resulting destruction was still truly enormous.

Even then, the Heavenly World's army couldn't easily jump into the middle of Sun Wukong's fierce clash against their general.

That was what the fight between one Yogoe and one god was like. It was a fight where even the gods of the heavens couldn't dare to jump in and in which they would find their very lives threatened merely by staying nearby.

Ku-gugugu—

Another Yogoe and a heavenly god were witnessing that spectacle from afar.

"As expected of the Great Sage Heaven's Equal."

They were none other than the Jade Emperor, and…

"Once upon a time he was my rival. So isn't it only obvious that he's capable of that much?"

The Great Sage who Pacifies Heaven, the Bull Demon King.

The Jade Emperor asked, "But it seems to me that you are not actually waiting for the Great Sage? I see that you are not really interested in his fight so far."

"Well, my younger brother has fought against Erlang Shen over 20 times already, so it's about time that I lose interest in it."

The Great Sage Heaven's Equal and Erlang Shen. These two were sworn enemies who battled each other for the longest time.

Their first battle ended in Sun Wukong's defeat. He admitted to the fact that he couldn't win against Erlang Shen and turned around to escape for the first time in his life.

But on their fifth encounter, Sun Wukong could evenly match up with Erlang Shen.

"Won't they fight for three days and nights straight again this time? And there won't be any satisfactory result either," the Bull Demon King muttered before turning around to face the Jade Emperor. "And that's why you brought Prince Nezha along as well, wasn't it?"

"Indeed."

"And you were planning to face me by yourself."

The Jade Emperor's eyes narrowed at the Bull Demon King's words.

Was that meant to be a threat? The emperor studied the Yogoe's eyes, but that didn't seem to be it.

"If that's the case…" he thought.

If the Bull Demon King wasn't planning to make a move personally here, then the situation wouldn't ultimately be unfavorable for the Heavenly World.

The Jade Emperor smiled faintly and nodded his head. "That indeed was my plan initially, but the situation has changed now. As you can see—"

"It seems that you believe Prince Nezha will defeat my little brother."

The Jade Emperor frowned slightly when the Bull Demon King cut him off. "What do you mean? Can't you see that Sun Wukong is still fighting against Erlang Shen?" he asked back.

"I wasn't referring to Sun Wukong but that child named Su-hyeun."

"Could it be that when you say your little brother, you were talking about that human?"

Hahaha!

The Bull Demon King merely laughed as a reply, which caused the anxiety in the Jade Emperor's heart that had momentarily gone away to bloom back up again.

The Bull Demon King called a human his little brother?

"I'm sure you'll see who won in the end soon enough." As he said that, the Bull Demon King shifted his gaze over to the large hole in the ground, which was previously created during Su-hyeun and Nezha's battle. "It seems that their battle has wrapped up just now."

[1] This is not an error. The author switched Prince Nezha's weapon from the Yogoe Rending Saber in the previous chapter to the Yogoe Beating Mace here.