The Hero Returns

* * *

Clang'”! Craaaaack'”

Spliiit'”!

The lengthened Ruyi Jingu Bang blew away a part of the mountain range. It was initially aimed at Master Subhuti's back, yet its direction had been altered to the side.

Creaaak'”

That was because Subhuti's palm had shoved aside the Ruyi Jingu Bang wielded by Sun Wukong.

Swish'”

Sun Wukong temporarily let go of his polearm then pounced on top of Master Subhuti's head.

He instantly closed the distance and threw a punch, but Subhuti didn't panic and simultaneously answered with his own punch.

Craaaack'”!

Booooom'”

When the two punches collided, the ground caved in deeply to alter the terrain once more.

Crack'”

A faint crack developed on the golden fillet on Sun Wukong's forehead.

This fight had been going on for over four hours now.

"It's gradually getting dangerous."

"Yes, too much time has passed."

The Bull Demon King and Su-hyeun confirmed the golden fillet's state from afar and spoke in turn.

Maybe both Master Subhuti and Sun Wukong also realized it since their movements were getting slower compared to earlier. The latter held the golden fillet while staggering unsteadily.

"So, in the end, it has come to this," said the Bull Demon King.

"Still, Wukong somehow managed to hold out for this long, even though he's going up against uncle," said the Roc Demon King, who had been unable to keep his jaw closed from some time ago.

Four hours was a fairly long time. Even if Sun Wukong was someone who wouldn't get tired after fighting for three days straight, his current opponent was on another realm compared to the likes of Prince Nezha or Erlang Shen.

The Roc Demon King wasn't aware of it, but that old man, Master Subhuti, was one of the Five Godly Sages. Not only that, but he was a teacher who taught the Sage Arts to the three Yogoe brothers, too.

He was an existence that even the one and only Bull Demon King bowed down to.

He was the progenitor of the Sage Arts, and Sun Wukong had been sparring with someone like that for over four hours now.

"Well, that's because..." the Bull Demon King swallowed back the rest of his sentence.

It seemed that the Roc Demon King wasn't aware of it; only the Bull Demon King and Su-hyeun possessed Insight capable of seeing the truth, after all.

"It would've ended much sooner if that's what he wanted," Su-hyeun thought.

The flow of the battle was different from what it looked like on the surface and was actually entirely one-sided.

Other than a brief period after the golden fillet's sealing came undone, Master Subhuti could've suppressed Sun Wukong whenever he wanted by relying on many methods at his disposal.

Also, there were so many countless openings that could've been exploited, too.

Even then, Master Subhuti didn't capitalize on any of them. One didn't need to rack their brains to figure out his reason for that.

It was also an apparent reason.

"Because this isn't a real battle."

Master Subhuti's method was to teach at every opportunity. They fought under the pretext of sparring, and through this fight, he continued to teach Sun Wukong.

Despite the latter loudly proclaiming that things would be different this time, nothing was different in the end. At a casual glance, this battle seemed to be finely balanced, but the truth was, Subhuti was constantly teaching Sun Wukong, who had been exposing many openings up until now.

"You made a correct call not to use your clones."

And even right now...

"If you've chosen to use clones, controlling the golden fillet would've become so much harder for you. I don't know whether or not you realized that playing a numbers game against me was meaningless, but no matter what, you did well."

Master Subhuti was imparting his final teachings to Sun Wukong.

"I see that you can control the golden fillet for much longer now. Even so, your proficiency with Ruyi Jingu Bang is still quite inadequate. As for Insight, well, it'll definitely get easier to use once you learn to control your temper a bit more."

He continued to point out Sun Wukong's shortfalls and talked about improving on those things that the latter lacked.

From the posture of swinging around a staff to the circulation of Dao energy required to throw a punch and even the methods of using Insight Sun Wukong had newly acquired through Buddha's teachings'”Sun Wukong absorbed Subhuti's teachings. Hence, his posture had noticeably improved compared to before.

Bang'”!

Master Subhuti deflected Sun Wukong's final attack'”the Ruyi Jingu Bang that had grown to the size of a mountain'”upward. He did that with only a flick of his finger.

"Alright then, let's stop here."

Ka-booooom'”!

The Ruyi Jing Bang landed on the ground, shaking it greatly. The reverberation even reached Su-hyeun, who was riding on the Somersault cloud high up in the air.

Huff, pant...

Sun Wukong heard that, and rather than continuing with his rampage, he retracted the Ruyi Jingu Bang and hid the golden fillet away.

He continued to huff breathlessly and then held his aching head with one hand. He found it hard to suppress his primitive instincts from going out of control due to the length of time the golden fillet's sealing had been lifted.

"T'”thank you for..."

Rustle...

Plop'”

Sun Wukong continued to stagger, but in the end, he crumbled to the ground face first.

Master Subhuti didn't support him, though, and instead chose to turn around and trudge away. "Fuu-woo, that sure was tough."

"Thank you for your hard work, uncle."

"Oh, you were watching, too?" Subhuti accepted a wooden canteen from the Bull Demon King. He then glanced back and saw Su-hyeun and the Roc Demon King helping Sun Wukong up.

As for Sun Wukong himself, he must be fast asleep since his whole body was limp while soft snoring noises could be heard coming from him.

The water inside the offered canteen made out of bamboo was refreshingly cold.

Subhuti drank half of the water, then poured the rest on his head. All the sweat streaming down his forehead was cooled down instantly, and his soaked clothes were dried up just as quickly as well.

"Now that feels refreshing," said Master Subhuti.

"How was it, uncle?"

"That kid, Wukong, he sure has grown up a lot. It's gotten fairly tough even for me to fight him while matching his pace."

Master Subhuti had actually sweated?

This would be the Bull Demon King's first time seeing such a thing.

He had never sparred against Master Subhuti. As for Subhuti's reason, he always said that the Bull Demon King had "nothing left to learn from sparring."

As such, Master Subhuti only sparred with Sun Wukong and the Roc Demon King. Even when both of them attacked together, not only did Subhuti not break out in a sweat, but even his breathing was left unruffled as well.

But now, one of the Five Godly Sages, Master Subhuti, was sweating away.

Even if he had been fighting and teaching Sun Wukong for four hours, this was...

"Uncle, you've gotten a lot frailer," the Bull Demon King sensed that something was off. Subhuti had ascended to the realm of Taoist God, so he would be blessed with an infinite lifespan, yet his face was filled with wrinkles. "Have you gotten older as well?"

"It's only natural for one to grow older as time passes. There's no need to forcibly hold onto life with no more regrets left, don't you agree?"

Now that was something a Sage might say.

The Bull Demon King nodded at Master Subhuti's meaningful words. Although his heart was aching beyond imagination, he couldn't just turn away and reject reality.

Master Subhuti was this type of person'”from their first meeting all the way to even now, too.

"How long...do you have left, uncle?"

"Mm, maybe..." Subhuti replied while closing his eyes.

His reply caused a single tear to trickle down from the Bull Demon King's usually expressionless eyes.

* * *

After losing consciousness, Sun Wukong didn't wake up even after the sun had set and the day drew to a close. It was all thanks to abusing the golden fillet for too long.

The Bull Demon King and the Roc Demon King remained by Sun Wukong's side to nurse him. They brewed medical herbs and fed the concoction through his lips. They even lit some warming fire within the room, something they hadn't done in a long while.

And so, as the day drew to a close, Su-hyeun made his way through the forest.

Tap, whoosh'”

For some reason, the moon was brighter than usual tonight, and there weren't a lot of clouds to obscure the view. Despite the deepening night, he didn't feel that the forest was too dark to see through.

After dashing across the forest for a while, he spotted the tallest tree found here.

Leap'”

Fwhoosh'”

Su-hyeun broke through the branches to reach the top of the tree. And after grabbing hold of a particular branch sticking out...

"You were here, sir?"

Su-hyeun greeted Master Subhuti.

The latter was sitting down on the top of the tree. While sitting all alone in the middle of the night to stare at the full moon, he replied without looking back at Su-hyeun, "So, you've finally arrived."

"Were you waiting for me?"

"It's not like I saw it through Insight, though. I mean, just how old am I, anyway? Even a blind person could see it. It was that obvious that."

Meaning, he didn't need to see into the future to figure out that Su-hyeun would sooner or later reach him.

That made sense since they had already made an appointment earlier. Before the sparring session with Sun Wukong got underway, they had talked to each other about it, after all.

Fluff'”

Rather than sitting on top of the tree, Su-hyeun summoned the Somersault cloud and lay on it. As the night deepened, the previously pleasant weather became just a bit chilly on the skin.

While lying on the Somersault cloud, Su-hyeun muttered to no one in particular, "Pretty..."

The moon in this world looked especially large. It was a similar story for the stars, too. Su-hyeun couldn't tell whether there were more stars visible in this place or it was just an optical illusion. Regardless of what, the night sky above was more beautiful than any others he had witnessed in his life.

"It seems that you like the sky?"

Su-hyeun nodded, "Yes, I like it a lot."

Lying on a cloud to stare at the moon...

Anyone who heard about such a thing would've loved to experience it at least once in their lifetime, but Su-hyeun was capable of doing it whenever he felt like it.

However, in truth, it was almost impossible to do so unless it was during certain times such as this one.

Su-hyeun remained lying on the cloud to feel the winds on his skin and stared at the sky for a little while longer before finally asking something, "How much time do you have left, sir?"

Master Subhuti responded to that question with, "You're asking the same question as the eldest did, huh?"

That reply was not really related to the question itself.

Was it because he didn't feel like answering? Su-hyeun chose not to dig any further. He had no right to hear the answer if the Bull Demon King himself didn't get it earlier.

"Even I do not know for sure."

"Hm?" Su-hyeun made a confused face.

Not sure, he said.

Someone on the level of Master Subhuti could surely tell what his remaining lifespan must be. When he thought that, another line of thought brushed past his mind abruptly, "Could it be that...?"

"It's being forcibly held back, so to speak," said Master Subhuti as he raised his hand.

Faint smoke leaked from the tips of his hand to scatter in the air.

But that was no ordinary smoke. In reality, his physical body was slowly evaporating.

"I always thought that I wouldn't cling onto my life, but doing that turned out to be a bit harder than I thought. Remaining time, you ask? It can be many years, months, maybe a few days, a few hours...or even a matter of seconds," Subhuti said with the same expression as his usual self. "Or maybe...it could be right this moment, too," he continued.

Su-hyeun remained silent.

A state where he could "disappear" right away if that's what he chose'”something he could easily do since only the most insignificant lingering attachment was left for him'”was Master Subhuti's current state.

"Did you know? As you live a near-infinite life, the value of life itself wears out and grows diluted in your mind. And then, sooner or later, you begin to ardently wish for your own existence to end."

"Are you saying you're tired of living, sir?"

"Tired, hm? Well, yeah, I guess it's similar. Honestly speaking, before I met those kids, I had been thinking of ending it soon."

Those kids, he said. He was referring to Sun Wukong, the Bull Demon King, and the Roc Demon King.

"Wukong has grown up a lot, didn't he? And even the Roc seems to have cooled down a lot of his anger simmering in his heart, too."

"What about the First Brother, though?"

"The eldest, he..." Master Subhuti's words trailed off, then he shook his head, "I can only apologize to him, that's all."

Su-hyeun didn't say anything.

"Hmm...Maybe I've told you some unnecessary things here. Repeating the same old tale over and over again...I didn't prevent my body from growing old and didn't stop time from taking hold of me, so it seems that I've grown a lot more senile these days."

"No, it's fine, sir."

"Ah, that's right. I did promise to tell you the answer to the question you were most curious about after the sparring with Wukong ended, didn't I?"

When Master Subhuti asked that, Su-hyeun silently nodded.

This was the reason why he sought Subhuti out so late at night like this. Still, he couldn't bring himself to ask it first since the old god looked like he would soon turn into a wisp of smoke and disappear'”that was how unpredictable his state looked.

Thankfully, though, Master Subhuti took the initiative to mention it first.

"Yes, you were right," Subhuti started nodding and began his reply. "The Tower you've been climbing all this time is indeed Yggdrasil."

The thing Su-hyeun had been curious about for a very long time wasn't the system but the true identity of the Tower itself.