The Hero Returns

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It had already been almost a full hour since the sparring session began.

No, wait—it was not correct to call this fight "sparring" anymore. Things had gone too far by now to call it that.

Su-hyeun fell deeper and deeper into a trance-like state as the fight progressed.

His body moved before his thoughts could fully form, and he was now fighting Sun Wukong almost evenly. However, the Ruyi Jingu Bang-wielding, lightning-summoning Monkey King's mastery of the Sage Arts had reached a realm far beyond than what Su-hyeun had managed so far.

The reason why he was able to compete evenly against Sun Wukong was solely due to his physical abilities and skills that he already possessed.

If the Sage Art he studied for the past half a year hadn't enhanced the purity of his magical energy and the breathing technique eliminated the need to conserve his reserve, then he would not be able to fight Sun Wukong on such a level.

"Not bad, little bro."

Smash—!

The two men's fists solidly landed on each other's faces.

Su-hyeun stumbled back as he covered his aching face. He stared at Sun Wukong and spoke, "What's the matter? Are you tired already?"

"Nope. This body of mine is immortal, you know."

"Ugh. You've consumed too many Peaches of Immortality, in the first place, so you shouldn't be boasting about that. It's an unfair advantage, after all."

"If you don't like it, why don't you eat some for yourself?" Sun Wukong stared straight at Su-hyeun's tired-looking face as he spun the "Ruyi" in his hand. "Get bigger…"

Pah-ahk—

Even before he could finish his command, Su-hyeun's figure flashed and appeared right near Sun Wukong's position.

"…Ruyi."

KA-BOOM—!

The Ruyi Jingu Bang extended, instantly crushing and altering the terrain once more.

Su-hyeun had already experienced this attack several times by now, so he could expertly dodge it this time with some ease.

"The best evasion method is to get close," he thought.

The safest location to dodge the Ruyi Jingu Bang was somewhere very close to Sun Wukong. Blocking that magic pole in the first place was impossible, to begin with. Therefore, rather than blocking it, he might as well dodge it.

And then…

Slam—!

One more time, Su-hyeun's fist dug deep into Sun Wukong's gut.

Keo-hurk!

But at the same time, Sun Wukong's fist slammed into Su-hyeun's unguarded belly as well. Thanks to the Armor of Hades protecting his torso, his bones were fine, but the impact force was still quite considerable.

Pant, pant—

Fuu-aaah, Hoo—

Both Su-hyeun and Sun Wukong panted in exhaustion for a while.

They had been giving their all in this fight.

It wasn't as if they were fighting against small fries, and more importantly, two people with a nearly similar skill level were going at it for almost one full hour, so it was unsurprising to see them dog-tired like this.

Su-hyeun thought to himself, "No, wait. The one at a clear disadvantage is me, isn't it?"

They might be even in terms of stamina, but the difference in their remaining magical energy reserve was rather concerning. Su-hyeun's reserve was almost at the rock bottom now; on the other hand, Sun Wukong had seemingly limitless energy no matter how much he used it.

All because he had consumed the Heavenly World's Peaches of Immortality.

"He ate not just one but thousands of Peaches, the treasure often referred to as the elixir of eternal life, so…This isn't unexpected, really."

The total energy reserve Sun Wukong boasted could easily rival even the Bull Demon King's.

Depending on how he chose to unleash that energy, Sun Wukong could very well fight for the rest of his life without getting tired, if that's what he wanted.

Not to forget, this wasn't a real fight with their lives on the line but strictly a sparring session. On top of this, Sun Wukong was a true immortal being who couldn't be killed in an actual combat situation.

Step—

Su-hyeun took a step toward Sun Wukong.

"The only way I can win against him right now is…"

He dropped the spear to the ground and then held the sword in both hands to assume the stance of "One Sword Cutting through Everything."

Sun Wukong's eyes sparkled after witnessing that stance.

"Would you look at this kid?"

What Su-hyeun was holding right now was a sword, not some wooden stick. And this stance was the same one he mastered while learning to see the Gyeol and trying to cut that down for the past half a year.

Up until now, he only cut down the Gyeol of immobile objects, which was only visible through the Sage's Eye, but the situation this time was different.

"Instead of dodging, he's planning to defend against me? Against my Ruyi?" thought Sun Wukong.

Now, this was an interesting provocation.

Squeeze—

And if he was the type to avoid confronting such provocations until now, then Sun Wukong wouldn't have earned the nicknames of the Great Sage Heaven's Equal and the Victorious Fighting Buddha.

"Get bigger…"

When Sun Wukong's lips parted…

"It's done," Su-hyeun thought as he shut his mouth up, his eyes opening wider.

Sun Wukong answered Su-hyeun's provocation, and this could very well be the only chance for the latter to win this fight.

"I'll look and then look some more."

That was the only thing Su-hyeun repeatedly performed for the past half a year.

He looked and observed the world in slow motion through the Sage's Eye. Inside this slowed-down world, Su-hyeun was moving languidly as Sun Wukong's lips and the Ruyi Jingu Bang, which was about to extend, moved much slower as well.

Not too long after that, Sun Wukong's lips stopped moving.

"Ruyi—"

KA-BOOM—!

The rapidly extending Ruyi Jingu Bang instantly filled up Su-hyeun's view.

It was far too late to dodge. One wrong move and he would get struck down by the magic pole, resulting in every bone in his body shattering to bits.

He could clearly see the Ruyi Jingu Bang approaching. At the same time, he spotted a whitish streak of light on the lower part of the extending pole.

"I found it."

Su-hyeun waited for the pole to reach him.

It felt like the weapon was creeping toward him so very slowly. Inside this greatly slowed-down time, the Ruyi Jingu Bang eventually arrived right before his nose.

Shu-wuwu—

From below going up…

Su-hyeun's sword smacked into the bottom of the Ruyi Jingu Bang and then…

BAAANG—!

The gigantic Ruyi was smoothly lifted up into the air. In that same instance, Su-hyeun's figure dashed toward the wide-open Sun Wukong who was still wielding the pole.

Whooooosh—

Swish—

The tip of Su-hyeun's blade swished past in front of Sun Wukong's throat. A really small nick opened up on the skin on his neck.

Su-hyeun wasn't trying to cut for real, of course. This was simply a spar and not a real battle meant to kill each other, after all.

Pant, pant—

Su-hyeun's panting grew even more laborious than before.

Sun Wukong, who was quietly standing there and observing him, looked up and spoke to someone, "Hey, this is enough, right?"

Those were some puzzling words, indeed.

Who was he talking to? His own curiosity got the better of him, so Su-hyeun raised his head to chase after Sun Wukong's gaze, but the moment he did…

"Yes, it is satisfactory."

He suddenly heard a voice. Not in his ears, but inside his head.

Flash—!

Rays of light shot out from above the clouds. At the same time, a cloud descended to the ground and began swirling and wrapping around Su-hyeun's body.

"What the…?"

Although this phenomenon was unfamiliar, he didn't feel any sense of repulsion from it. The moment this white cloud touched his body, he knew what this thing was.

"The Somersault cloud."

One of the divine items that symbolized Sun Wukong alongside the Ruyi Jingu Bang and the Fiery Golden Eyes. It was also one of the many abilities the Great Sage Heaven's Equal boasted that allowed him to summon forth lightning bolts and storm winds, as well as fly thousands of kilometers in the blink of an eye.

That very object had begun cocooning Su-hyeun now.

His whole vision was dyed in pure white. The expression, "walking on clouds," which he often heard of—he finally figured out what that phrase was like in real life.

"Hey, kid. I've acknowledged you."

He heard the Somersault cloud's voice.

Sure, he heard it speak a second ago, but even then, he felt more shocked by the fact that the cloud could actually talk in the first place rather than its very existence.

"It wasn't simply one of his natural abilities?"

Su-hyeun always thought that the Somersault cloud was one of the abilities Sun Wukong naturally possessed—an ability to control clouds and cause lightning bolts to rain down.

The Bull Demon King could do that too, so he was under the impression that the Somersault cloud was yet another branch of the Sage Arts.

But his assumption turned out to be wrong.

"What are you?"

Su-hyeun closed his eyes and tried to converse with the Somersault cloud through his consciousness.

This felt so mysterious to him. To think that he would get to speak to an unknown existence while wrapped up in a cloud.

A reply came his way right away.

"I am the first cloud to be born at the beginning of all things, the proof of the qualifications of a god, and the living divine artifact."

That reply sure was as ambiguous as hell.

Although none of those words were foreign to Su-hyeun, he still couldn't quite understand the meaning behind them. He just didn't have much basic knowledge of this world to fully comprehend what kind of existence the Somersault cloud was.

However, he could sense certain things.

"It kind of feels like the first brother," he thought to himself.

The Bull Demon King—the only one among everyone Su-hyeun knew who came close to being an actual Taoist god.

The feeling this Somersault cloud gave off was quite similar to what he picked up from the Bull Demon King.

"However, remember this. You need to reach a slightly higher realm if you wish to fully wield me."

The Somersault cloud's voice slowly grew fainter.

As soon as that happened…

["Divine artifact: Somersault cloud" has become your subordinate.]

[You can now use the Somersault cloud.]

[Your proficiency in the Sage Arts is too low; therefore, your use of the Somersault cloud will be limited.]

The system message began floating up.

The Somersault cloud had become Su-hyeun's subordinate. According to the system's explanation, apparently, his usage of it would be limited somehow, but that also meant that the artifact's effects would be that much greater as his mastery of the Sage Arts improved in the future.

Su-hyeun opened his eyes to discover Sun Wukong's face right next to his.

He felt rather stupefied right now.

"What did that guy say?" Sun Wukong asked, his eyes sparkling in expectation. However, there was a hint of worry in his expression as well.

"Brother, what just happened?"

Before he could answer Sun Wukong's question, though, Su-hyeun needed some explanation on this situation first.

Sun Wukong formed a slightly sheepish expression. He avoided meeting Su-hyeun's eyes and awkwardly scratched his head before finally saying something. "Looks like everything went well. It's all cool in that case."

"I'm asking what happened, brother."

He was clearly trying to gloss over something important here. However, Su-hyeun simply couldn't let this one slide by. The Somersault cloud was, no matter what, one of the unmistakable symbols of Sun Wukong, after all.

"Well, it's just a gift, you know. That dude's a bit picky, so I can't give it away even if I want to, so when I asked it about my idea…Well, it wanted to test you."

"The Somersault cloud did?"

"Yup, that's right."

It seemed that Sun Wukong's question, "Is this enough?" earlier was directed at the Somersault cloud.

"This guy, it's a divine artifact capable of choosing its master. No one can choose to be its master, no matter what."

So, this was Sun Wukong's reason for starting a fight with Su-hyeun disguised as a sparring session, even though the war against the Heavenly World was right around the corner.

Their spar that became quite serious early on was his way of handing over the Somersault cloud to Su-hyeun.

Sun Wukong's expression remained awkward, but eventually, he smiled brightly. "That guy, it told me that this would be the last time you'd be here, so I told it to shut up and go with you, instead."

"My last time here…?" Su-hyeun's surprise was even greater than when the Somersault cloud started wrapping around him. "Wait, it wasn't our first brother but the cloud who told you that?"

"Yeah. Why? Does the first bro also know about it?"

"Y—yes, probably…N—no, wait a minute…"

There was no guarantee that the Bull Demon King knew the truth just because the Somersault cloud did. All along, Su-hyeun thought it would obviously be their sworn big brother who would inform Sun Wukong of the truth, so understandably, he felt quite confused right now.

"But how come?" he asked himself.

It wasn't the Bull Demon King but the Somersault cloud.

Su-hyeun, who was making complicated expressions, abruptly remembered something and quickly asked Sun Wukong. "By the way, why are you giving me the Somersault cloud?"

The Somersault cloud was one of the abilities that best symbolized Sun Wukong.

Su-hyeun now knew that it was a divine artifact and not some simple ability or technique, but despite that fact, Sun Wukong still willingly gave it to him.

Of course, Su-hyeun was able to acquire the Somersault cloud because he managed to pass the standard set by the artifact, but still.

"Well, because you're my little bro, that's why," Sun Wukong scratched his cheek and replied all the while sounding a bit bashful. "I'm your big bro, so I better give you a gift and make sure you won't get bullied by some random idiot somewhere. Especially when you're about to travel somewhere far away and won't be able to come back here."