The Hero Returns

Act 8

Pow—

Split—!

A Ruyi Jingu Bang flying in at his face shattered into bits, and Su-hyeun's fist accurately slammed into Sun Wukong's solar plexus.

Pang—!

Sun Wukong's clone made a small exploding noise and disappeared from the spot. Almost at the same time, a massive shadow loomed over Su-hyeun's head.

Gu-wu-wung—!

It was yet another Ruyi Jingu Bang—this time, in its gigantic form.

However, the descending pole never touched the ground. Sun Wukong's clone that enlarged the Ruyi Jingu Bang was really stunned by what happened, his eyes nearly popping out of their sockets.

"Oh?"

Squeeeeze—

Such strength was capable of lifting the pole from below; even if the Ruyi Jingu Bang was a fake, Su-hyeun still managed to raise it up.

Fuu-wuph—!

Whoosh—

Su-hyeun grabbed the Ruyi Jingu Bang with both hands and swung it as hard as he could.

Fwhoooosh—!

The fake Ruyi Jingu Bang and Sun Wukong's clone were flung into the distant skies. At the same time, the spear Su-hyeun was carrying rapidly flew toward the flying target.

Swhoosh—!

Shatter—

The Ruyi Jingu Bang was shattered once more. Sun Wukong's clone also disappeared with a hole in its chest.

Su-hyeun let out a lengthy, fatigued breath after defeating Sun Wukong's fifth clone.

Fuu-wu-wu—

That went on for over half a day.

As for the real Sun Wukong, he was leisurely riding on his Somersault Cloud high up in the sky, just spectating on the battles taking place below.

All the battles had been fought with his clones so far. The total number of clones surrounding Su-hyeun at the moment was 10.

"This really is a cheat."

To think that every single clone carried Sun Wukong's treasured magic tool, the Ruyi Jingu Bang.

It seemed that aside from his body, all the items in contact with the said body could be copied at will. Since the pole was fake like the clones, its hardness fell far behind the real thing, but it worked perfectly well as a combat weapon despite its shortcoming.

"You know the basics of fighting, at least. I guess your win against Nezha wasn't a fluke after all," Sun Wukong spoke.

The sparring session had already lasted over half a day. Sun Wukong observed Su-hyeun with mystified eyes as the latter continued to fight against his clones.

The first-ever human to be accepted as a sworn brother by himself and the Bull Demon King. He initially thought of Su-hyeun as nothing more than a pretty strong human, but such a guy still went on to defeat Prince Nezha in the end.

"Also, the power he wields…"

At a casual glance, that energy seemed similar to the "Dao energy" Sun Wukong practiced in.

Other than the low concentration and the impurities mixed within, the reserve itself was more than enough. And with Su-hyeun now mastering the breathing technique, those impurities were quickly being filtered out, and that energy was getting far purer now.

"What an interesting guy he is."

Sun Wukong, who was watching the proceedings while resting his chin on his hand, suddenly got up and lightly leaped off from the Somersault Cloud.

He descended for dozens upon dozens of meters, but his feet didn't make any noise as he landed on the ground like he merely weighed a feather.

Su-hyeun, who was breathing heavily as he kept on sparring with the clones, stopped and stared at Sun Wukong.

"So? How was it? Fighting without relying on any other energy has been a while for you, right?" the latter asked.

"Well, it hasn't been that long, but yes."

Sweat poured out of his body like a torrential rainstorm, but that didn't mean Su-hyeun felt completely exhausted at the moment.

That was all thanks to the great reserve of the magical energy remaining in his body. Even if he didn't rely on it, that energy still continued to supply vitality to its master's physique.

"Nonetheless…I do feel a little different from the past."

This wouldn't be the first time he didn't rely on magical energy and fought with only his bare fists since he became an awakener. Back when his strength stat had experienced a sudden increase, he took a day out to test his new limits and fought like today.

If there was one thing different, then his current opponents were far stronger than that day.

Perhaps that was why sudden thoughts of saying, "I'm tired," popped in his head often. Despite that, the confidence of knowing that he could still keep going took over his entire body.

"It's really effective."

Su-hyeun sat down on the spot and regulated his breathing for a little while.

The sparring session had been taking place for the past few days. Initially, he wondered about the purpose of doing this, but after one day, he definitely sensed overall improvements.

The effect of the breathing technique didn't simply stop at reducing his consumption of magical energy.

The breathing technique—arguably the beginning and the end of the Sage Art itself—enhanced the purity of Su-hyeun's magical energy. Simply put, it served the role of extracting impurities from his body.

To deplete his stamina right down to the absolute limits while using the magical energy that filled his body and expel the impurities along with his fatigued breathing—those were the initial goals of this training.

"The magical energy feels far purer than ever before. And also…"

Once some of his stamina returned, Su-hyeun got up and raised his fist.

"Oh, really?" Sun Wukong smirked at Su-hyeun's attempt to provoke him. "You wanna have a go?"

"Thank you in advance for your guidance."

"Guidance? You want me to teach you?"

"Yes."

"You know, you really know how to say all the right things. And very politely, too. Alright, then. Allow me to teach you a few things today."

Sun Wukong put his dukes up and lightly moved his feet.

His actions were definitely light yet fast.

However, it didn't feel like he was in a rush or anything.

"Is this what he meant back then by saying I'm in a rush?" Su-hyeun thought.

The Bull Demon King told Su-hyeun to learn to be more patient and relaxed.

At first, he didn't really get it. But now, he knew—being strong meant you could easily be broken, but being malleable would mean you would bend instead.

Ta-ahk—, paaang—!

Sun Wukong's fist slammed into empty air, while the other fist landed in his opponent's palm.

Defending and dodging repeated themselves. It certainly had been a while since Su-hyeun didn't rely on his weapons and fought bare-handed, but even with that excuse, Sun Wukong was still too strong for him to do anything at the moment.

Pant, pant—

After sparring for about an hour…

Su-hyeun was lying spread-eagled on the ground. He didn't even have enough energy left to lift a finger.

Despite that, he felt great. Sun Wukong laid down on top of the Somersault Cloud and waited for Su-hyeun to recover.

"I'll be in your care again."

After resting for 10 minutes or so, Su-hyeun got up from his spot. Without saying anything, Sun Wukong continued to spar with him. Such a routine repeated itself over the day, and then, another five days went by like that.

"I can see them."

Su-hyeun began thinking that his spar against Sun Wukong was much more doable now compared to the beginning. Little by very little, he could now see Sun Wukong's movements.

The punches he found so hard to follow on the first day were now so much clearer for him to see.

"Dodge, then…"

Unhurriedly…

Rustle—

Sun Wukong's fist brushed past Su-hyeun's head. That punch came across as much, much slower than all of Sun Wukong's movements up until now.

"Hit him back," he said to himself.

Flash—

Slam—!

For the first time ever, Su-hyeun's fist touched Sun Wukong's body.

[You have acquired "Sage's Eye."]

<hr />

Su-hyeun's daily routine remained the same for a while.

As soon as he woke up in the morning, he fought against Sun Wukong's clones. He didn't use a drop of magical energy and continued to fight with his physical body only.

Although simple in concept, this was the best training method there could be. If it was any other time, such a training would be nothing more than torture to his body, but with guidance from both the Bull Demon King and Sun Wukong, plus the breathing technique supporting him, Su-hyeun's physique experienced a rapid metamorphosis every single day.

[Stamina has risen by 1.]

[Reflex has risen by 1.]

[Magic count has risen by 1.]

Three stats saw an increase after 10 days. But that wasn't all.

Su-hyeun's magical energy's purity rose up. Using it also became so much smoother than before—so much so that Sun Wukong cowered a little because of it as he watched Su-hyeun's growth from the closest vantage point.

"Big brother, just what exactly is our youngest bro?" Sun Wukong asked in disbelief and continued to watch Su-hyeun fight against his clones.

The Bull Demon King was currently riding on the Somersault Cloud alongside him. For the past few days, the Yogoe made it his daily routine to watch over Su-hyeun's training.

"He has already opened his Sage's Eye, didn't he?" Sun Wukong continued.

The Sage's Eye.

That name was meant to evoke the "eyes of a Taoist God." The wondrous "eye" possessed the effect of slowing down the actions of everything caught in the vision of its wielder.

As the story went, if you managed to train the Sage's Eye even further, then you would be able to see through the truth of the world and even awaken "Clairvoyance" and "Precognition."

"He indeed has," the Bull Demon King replied.

"I haven't awakened my Sage's Eye yet. What about you, big brother?"

"It took me about one hundred years to acquire the eye."

"That dude…He only needed five days."

Five days.

Even a regular human would find that time frame quite short.

Unsurprisingly, for both the Bull Demon King, who lived for almost an eternity, and Sun Wukong, who was also learning the same Sage Arts, such a period would be nothing more than a mere blip.

So, for them, the rate of Su-hyeun's growth was quite hard to even fathom.

"He's different from us, after all."

On the other hand, the Bull Demon King didn't seem as stunned as Sun Wukong was.

Wondering what that statement even meant, the latter asked, "But isn't that obvious? The youngest is a human, after all."

"I wasn't referring to the difference in our races."

"You weren't?"

"An unseen hand is currently aiding the youngest. It's acting as if…the world's greatest assistant."

"An unseen hand?"

"I'm not certain about the exact details either. But what I do know for sure is that we shouldn't pry any deeper than this."

He sounded like he was trying to catch pies in the distant sky.

Sun Wukong wasn't much of a fan of using his head, so he simplified what the Bull Demon King had said as much as possible to understand it.

So, basically, what the latter had said was that there must be a special circumstance with why Su-hyeun acquired the Sage Arts at such a breakneck speed.

"Is that why he's so strong?"

After all, Su-hyeun as a human only had lived for no more than a handful of decades.

Yet, he still possessed enough abilities to defeat Prince Nezha, whether that happened by fluke or through his skills.

Not only that, but he had also become completely familiar with the breathing technique and even awakened the Sage's Eye, also referred to as the Taoist God's eyes.

"I'm curious," the Bull Demon King thought to himself as he alternated his gaze between Sun Wukong who was staring at Su-hyeun with deeply interested eyes and then at Su-hyeun who had already defeated nearly 10 clones so far.

"What will happen if our youngest consumes the Peach of Immortality like this kid here?"

The rare fruit that reputedly only ripens once every three thousand years and found only in the Heavenly World that existed above the surface.

The Bull Demon King imagined Su-hyeun's figure eating that fruit, and a smile subtly deeper than his usual grin floated on his face.

"Uh? Big brother, take a look over there."

It was around then that Sun Wukong, who was lying on the Somersault Cloud on his stomach while resting his chin on his hands, suddenly got up.

"I already know. The 'first' is headed over here."

"Ah, of course, you already knew. Obviously, you'd have spotted a long time ago what I'm just seeing now. But why didn't you say anything?"

"Don't do anything and keep watching."

Unlike Sun Wukong who stood up from the cloud's surface, the Bull Demon King was still relaxed as he looked down at the ground.

"Something rather entertaining will happen soon, it seems."

<hr />

Pang, pa-pa-pang—!

All of the clones that were rushing toward Su-hyeun suddenly vanished.

He was about to punch them just then. He stood upright and took a look around him. It wasn't just those clones that were pouncing on him, but even the others on standby had vanished without a trace as well.

He did break a bit of sweat, and that was about it so far. He still had plenty of stamina left and wasn't injured anywhere.

Meaning, there was no reason to stop the sparring there.

"Are we done?"

Su-hyeun asked in a puzzled voice, but there was no reply.

That wasn't all either.

"Where did they go?" he thought.

The two Yogoes' presence had also vanished even before he had noticed it.

Wondering if they were up on the Somersault Cloud to observe him just like before, Su-hyeun raised his head to take a look.

Was it due to acquiring the Sage's Eye? He couldn't see the Bull Demon King, but he did spot Sun Wukong up there.

"Are they in hiding? But why…"

"HEY!"

A loud roar reverberated from the far off distance.

Su-hyeun turned his head in the direction of the voice and saw a person flying in from the distant sky.

"He's flying?"

It was a man with sharp facial features and a human-like body but with bird-like wings on his back.

He rapidly folded his wings and landed on the ground. One thing was for certain, he was not a human but a Yogoe.

This man scanned the immediate surroundings for a little while. After confirming that the front yard and the residence were empty, he shifted his hostile gaze over to Su-hyeun next.

"Why the hell is a measly little human standing here? And where did the big brother go?"

Before answering those questions, Su-hyeun calmly held the man's piercing glare.

The situation did seem rather strange at a glance.

"This hostility is bordering on killing intent. And then…" he thought.

However, that alone wasn't enough to explain the sentiments mixed in this man's expression and his tone of voice.

"Contempt."