The Hero Returns

A bright light flashed from somewhere high up in the sky.

Sun Wukong, who was madly rushing in, suddenly contorted his whole body in pain. Just as his shuddering body began falling from the air…

Rumble—!

The roar of thunder reverberated belatedly, as naturally, the speed of lightning and the flash of light were much faster than the speed of sound.

Kku-waaahk!

The same thing also applied to Sun Wukong's screaming.

His body now resembled a burnt-out piece of charcoal. Even as he thrashed about in pain, he somehow managed to regain his balance. He was clearly struggling from Su-hyeun's attack from earlier and from getting struck by lightning on top of that.

Su-hyeun should have performed a follow-up attack by now, but he simply couldn't. The sensation he felt from using the Somersault cloud properly for the first time prevented him from immediately attacking again.

"So, this is the Somersault cloud," he thought.

It felt as if nature's providence had become his own.

Although brief, it also felt as if Mother Nature and his physical body had become one.

That potent feeling of being able to control everything in this world still faintly lingered within him. This feeling had to be one of the most addicting sensations in the whole world.

Kki-aahk—!

Chwa-aaaah—!

In the meantime, Sun Wukong fully regained his wits and took a huge swing with his claws.

Su-hyeun wrapped the Somersault cloud all around his body and activated "Leap" to dash high up into the sky. Only then did he finally realize that he had been standing around dazedly all this time.

"I need to snap out of it."

For Su-hyeun, getting to know what it felt like to fully control the Somersault cloud was an immensely important event. He might get to master the artifact's control much faster, thanks to this opportunity.

Nevertheless, his current priority should be with helping Sun Wukong regain his sanity.

"I'll finish this in one go."

Shu-rururu—

Cheee-iiik—

Su-hyeun's eyes followed after Sun Wukong, leaping even higher than he did only to descend rapidly toward him.

He could see the wounds on the Monkey King's body healing at a visible rate. As expected of someone boasting an immortal and undying body, Sun Wukong's regeneration rate was far faster than anyone Su-hyeun could think of.

An existence boasting monster-like stamina, magical energy reserve, and even regeneration.

Not to forget, all those advantages were pushed to the extremes after the seal of the golden headband became weaker, and the Yogoe's primal instincts were unleashed.

"Even then, as I expected…"

Pow—!

Sun Wukong's fist slammed against Su-hyeun's shoulder.

Heavy pain was transmitted from the part of his body that was struck. The impact was so immense that it wouldn't have been strange to see his shoulder get ripped apart.

However, Su-hyeun's shoulder remained unaffected.

"Keuh-ruk?"

Maybe this outcome was different from what Sun Wukong expected, as he stared at Su-hyeun with puzzled eyes.

Fluff—

As it turned out, pure-white clouds were currently wrapped around Su-hyeun's shoulder.

It was an armor he created by manipulating the Somersault cloud. More than anything else, this armor made of clouds possessed strong resistance against any and all physical impact.

"Wrap around him, and—"

Shu-rururu—

Su-hyeun's command caused the Somersault cloud to react.

Pure-white clouds began enveloping Sun Wukong's figure. He thrashed about in vain, but the clouds had already started to completely cover his body the moment Su-hyeun flicked his hand.

Right after that, the Somersault cloud's powers were conceptualized inside Su-hyeun's mind.

"Strike him, Somersault cloud."

FLASH—

BUZZZZZ—!

Kkya-aaaaah!

The Somersault cloud enveloping Sun Wukong began pouring out powerful electrical shocks. He thrashed wildly about in pain as he rapidly fell below.

Swooooosh—

Grab!

Su-hyeun activated "Leap" once more and flew down before grabbing Sun Wukong's throat. While maintaining downward speed, he then powerfully kicked the air and shot down even faster toward the ground.

"Faster…"

Shu-wuwuwu—

"Somersault cloud."

Fwhoooosh!

The Somersault cloud enveloped Su-hyeun's feet and accelerated his descent even further. His figure, as he grabbed onto Sun Wukong's throat, was no longer visible; it instead became a single continuous streak of light.

Swiiiiiiiish—

And so, the two of them reached the ground, and—

KWA-BOOOOOM!

Crack, spliiiiit—

The moment Sun Wukong's head slammed into the ground, the terrain caved in deeply, with that exact contact point as the epicenter.

The resulting crater looked as if a meteor had crashed there. Inside it, Su-hyeun was holding down Sun Wukong's trembling body.

Sun Wukong might have been an immortal, but that didn't he wouldn't feel any sort of impact whatsoever. He shuddered nonstop from the pain which felt like every bone in his body was being pulverized. Blood mixed with bits of internal organs leaked out of his mouth.

Even then, Sun Wukong still tried to thrash around.

Kiiaaahk, keok!

"Third brother."

Kii-aaahk, Keo-keok!

"Please get a hold of yourself, brother!"

Su-hyeun's grip on Sun Wukong who was still pinned to the ground got progressively stronger.

He so badly wanted to stop exerting his strength like this right away. Seeing Sun Wukong bleeding all over made him recall the past half a year he had spent with the Monkey King.

"I do not wish to hurt you anymore, brother."

Squeeeeze—

Tsu-chuchuchu—

Magical energy traveled through Su-hyeun's hand and entered the golden headband.

Sizzzzle—

Kah-aaaahk!

The headband began constricting Sun Wukong's head. His hands which were trying to free himself from Su-hyeun's grip instead moved toward the headband as he tried to pull it off.

The previously weakened seal gradually got stronger. Su-hyeun worked with the Somersault cloud and repaired the broken seal of the golden headband.

As he watched Sun Wukong in great pain from the golden headband digging into his scalp, Su-hyeun bit down on his lip hard enough to draw blood.

"Please don't cry."

Drip—

Kkeuh-urhk, kkeok…

Tears streamed down from Sun Wukong's eyes. Memories he didn't want to recall flooded back into his head as his sanity returned.

His resistance disappeared soon after.

The golden headband then vanished into Sun Wukong's head, and as for his hands that used to shield his aching scalp, they were now hiding his face covered with endless rivers of tears.

Kkeuh… Kkeuh-uh-uhk…

He was biting down on his lips and rubbing his eyes hard as if to stop his sobbing, but the tears didn't want to stop flowing.

Sun Wukong cried for a long while.

How many minutes passed by like this? He barely managed to open his trembling lips to speak.

"Last…brother…"

"Yes, I'm here."

"It's not…a dream, right?"

For a moment there, Su-hyeun hesitated with his answer.

Should he say it was all a dream?

He quickly shook his head at that sudden thought that invaded his mind. Such a reply would be nothing more than applying dirt on an old wound that would fester and get worse eventually.

"…Yes, it wasn't a dream."

Heuh-euh, heuh-euh-euh—

Combined sobbing and laughing came out from Sun Wukong's mouth.

Keuk, keu-heuh-heuph…

He probably wished to cry some more but tried to force out a smile instead. He must have finally reached a stable-enough mental state that let him realize Su-hyeun was watching him right now.

"Hah—I'm sorry about this, little bro."

"You don't have to apologize for anything, you know?"

"I sure showed you something disgraceful. Dammit! I was planning to act like a real big brother once I got myself a younger sibling, but I guess I'm forever a little bro material."

"That's not true."

"You don't have to be nice to me, though."

"As far as I'm concerned, you're the best brother out there. I'm being serious."

Half a year—it was definitely not a short time, but it was also not that long either.

Not to mention, for someone like Sun Wukong or the Bull Demon King who had lived for tens of thousands of years, such a period would be like a little bleep in their lives.

Even then, they treated Su-hyeun with genuinely open hearts. Even if their relationship began on the common ground of destroying the plot of the Heavenly World together, their sincerity had long exceeded the level of a simple cooperative relationship.

Sun Wukong muttered, "You know, I don't feel so good right now."

"Please rest for a while, third brother."

He might have regained his sanity, but his current physical condition was definitely not good. His whole body was covered in blood, and it seemed that lifting even a single finger would be asking too much from him.

Su-hyeun raised his head to look up. "Don't worry, I'll take care of the rest."

Shu-wuwuwu—

Sun Wukong followed Su-hyeun's gaze and looked toward the lip of the crater they were in.

That's where they saw the figure of the Jade Emperor standing there looking down at them on the bottom. The old man's face was filled with pure shock—as if his schemes had not accounted for this eventuality.

They both knew instinctively.

This whole thing had been cooked up by that bastard.

**

"I can't believe this," the Jade Emperor said inwardly.

He had lived through countless "peaceful" years in his life, but honestly speaking, not too many things out there could make him gasp in disbelief.

That was because his life had always been smooth sailing, one that unfolded exactly as he planned. Events that overturned his predictions were extremely rare, but one of them happened about half a year ago—the Bull Demon King stepped one foot over the threshold of joining the ranks of the Taoist gods.

The Jade Emperor had to amend a portion of his plan because of that event. However, that remained as a portion and nothing more.

An unknown human made his appearance and got rid of the God of War, but such a variable was still within his allowance. A new God of War was about to be installed anyway, which was the Snub-nosed Monkey Spirit King who also happened to be the important pawn in his plan to rock the psyche of Great Sage Heaven's Equal.

But now, the same human turned out to be capable of subduing that Great Sage Heaven's Equal. Not only that, but he also defeated Sun Wukong all by himself.

"A task that the God of War Prince Nezha and Erlang Shen had to perform together, he is…"

Rustle—

Su-hyeun's glare was now directed at the Jade Emperor.

"A measly little human did that?!"

That thought abruptly popped up in his head, and almost immediately, the emperor had to acknowledge how wrong his judgment had been for the first time in his entire life.

The "measly little" human.

The modifiers "measly" and "little" definitely did not suit that human. If the Jade Emperor insisted on attaching such modifiers to a human capable of subduing the Great Sage Heaven's Equal, then every living creature found throughout heaven and earth should also be seen as a pathetic loser.

"Where is my second brother?"

Su-hyeun's voice was cold and heavy. The aura he oozed now was different from a second ago.

If you've lived for a long time, you would inevitably acquire wisdom and experience. Such things would make accurately deciphering the moods of your opponent as natural as breathing itself.

"He's furious, isn't he?" he thought.

Most humans would react this way, and the same principle also applied to Yogoes and gods. They would all get angry when they thought about someone precious to them getting hurt in some way.

Su-hyeun wasn't any different in that regard.

"You're slow with your answer."

"When you say the second brother, do you perhaps mean the Roc Demon King?"

"That's right."

"You spent only half a year with him, yet you already call him your brother? It seems that becoming a family member with you is very easy," muttered the Jade Emperor as he slowly stroked his beard.

Su-hyeun wordlessly glared at the emperor for a little while and then jumped up out of the crater and left Sun Wukong behind.

Tap—

The distance between him and the Jade Emperor became as narrow as mere 10 paces. The latter warily observed the former unhesitatingly closing the distance between them. With their distance closing up like this, more opportunities to land attacks would start revealing themselves.

But for some reason, Su-hyeun didn't seem to be too wary of the Jade Emperor.

He then opened his mouth and said, "The time spent isn't the most important thing."

Grip—

Su-hyeun gripped the spear mounted on his back with his left hand. "No, the important thing is how you spent that time."

"Now that's a nice notion. But, well, how unfortunate for you. The dear second brother you've been so fawning over is no longer with the living, you see," the Jade Emperor sniggered.

The Jade Emperor narrowed his eyes as he spoke to pay closer attention to Su-hyeun's response.

Strangely, though, the latter didn't seem to display much of a reaction at all. It would have been only logical for him to charge forward blindly in pure agitation just like how it was with Sun Wukong.

"Maybe his relationship with the Roc Demon King wasn't all that amicable?" he thought.

While the Jade Emperor was thinking that…

Su-hyeun finished wordlessly scanning the surroundings and broke his silence. "You're lying."

"What was that?"

"The second brother is still alive."

Su-hyeun's declaration caused the Jade Emperor's expression to crumple unsightly, and a few more wrinkles were added to his face as a result.

It was as the human said—the Jade Emperor didn't know whether the Roc Demon King was still alive or not. The latter hastily fled after suffering a large wound, after all. Although the wound seemed grievous, the possibility of him dying from it seemed remote at best.

"It doesn't matter."

Gu-gugugugu—

A gigantic golden-colored palm materialized behind the Jade Emperor. It emitted a massive and oppressive aura as it began blanketing the skies above Su-hyeun's head.

The emperor opened his own palm, and while making a gesture of pressing down to the ground, he spoke, "Because soon, I shall be sending that fool to the netherworld along with you."

"Nope, wrong."

Fwhoooosh—

Su-hyeun spun the spear that he held in his left hand before lightly throwing it up into the sky.

Whoosh—

The sharp spear tip penetrated cleanly through the golden palm. And in that precise moment, the Jade Emperor felt a stinging pain traveling from the back of his own hand.

"Isn't this…?"

Crack—

Craaaaack—

Cracks suddenly formed on the massive golden palm and spread rapidly to the rest of the hand.

"You'll be going there alone, old man."