The Hero Returns

* * *

He had been thinking about this for a while.

If the system was created by the Five Godly Sages, including Master Subhuti, then what was the Tower of Trials?

"There are countless worlds in the Tower," Su-hyeun thought.

In a nutshell, the Tower was practically an infinite number of worlds.

Different worlds existed on each of its floors, and through the trials given out from each of these worlds, an awakener would get to travel to another—a new world.

The structure of the Tower was this: you received trials through the system, and after clearing it, you were transferred to the next world.

Basically, awakeners grew stronger through the "Tower" and the "system." And this was to counter the dungeon threat created by Shiva—kind of like a "vaccine" meant to fight against the virus affecting the universe.

"Yggdrasil..."

And now, Su-hyeun finally learned what the Tower actually was straight from Master Subhuti himself.

He had heard that name before, of course. It was probably the best-known example of a World Tree that usually appeared in the Northern European mythologies.

It was also known as a Tree that "connected different worlds," and that was similar in meaning to the Tower of Trials that bound many different worlds to one entity and divided them into floors.

Su-hyeun asked, "Just what exactly is Yggdrasil?"

"It's the largest World Tree—a passageway that connects many different dimensions, which also happens to be a gigantic world itself that occupies half of all known universe and dimensions."

"And you created the Tower using such a tree?"

"Technically, we can't say we created it. We merely overlaid our system on Yggdrasil that already existed, after all. We simply utilized a tiny little portion of the countless worlds out there, that's all."

It was not a created world but one that already existed. What they had done was simply weaving and tying together the worlds that already existed as floors in the form of the World Tree.

"Well, if we wanted to create it, then there wasn't much stopping us back then, but still."

Su-hyeun was surprised by what Subhuti said seemingly in passing, "Wait, something like that was even possible?"

The Godhood of Creation was an ability on another realm compared to every other godhood out there. That was, without a shred of doubt, the power of the biblical God Su-hyeun was familiar with.

Even after becoming a god himself, and not just any god but someone fairly close to the Five Godly Sages in terms of strength, Su-hyeun still didn't even dare to entertain any thoughts regarding the act of creation.

"Of course, it's impossible for me. However, I do know of an existence capable of doing it."

"Who is it?"

"Brahma, one of the Five Godly Sages and also a Primordial God."

"Brahma," Su-hyeun quietly mouthed that name.

If it was that Brahma, then he should be the god who stood diametrically opposed to Shiva. It was stated that when Brahma created a universe, Shiva would eventually destroy it. Apparently, this process had been repeating itself endlessly.

He could very well be the cornerstone in stopping Shiva's threat, then.

"Where is he right now?" Su-hyeun urgently asked.

"I also do not know."

Unfortunately, Subhuti's reply left no room for doubts. Still, Su-hyeun thought that Subhuti should know since they were all Five Godly Sages.

"Is there a way to find him, in that case?"

"It has been eons since he disappeared. Actually, since the beginning of this universe up to this day, he hasn't shown himself for about half of that time," Master Subhuti said before standing up from his spot. "As such, it'll be better to give up on trying to find him."

"Sir, were you also searching for him?"

"Yeah, I searched for him for a long time. I must've been searching for several millennia at least, but I probably gave up after realizing that it's impossible, if I remember correctly."

Several millennia, he said. To Su-hyeun, who had only lived for a handful of decades, that time was unimaginably long. Sure, he now had acquired memories of his past lives, but even so, he still felt that such a period was just too indescribably long.

"Not only that but there isn't too much left in this universe's lifespan, anyway," Master Subhuti muttered while looking up at the stars in the night sky.

Those stars had a finite lifespan, and the same applied to the universe as well.

Now that Shiva had begun moving, the destruction on the scale that surpassed mere clusters of planets and reached the entirety of the universe and all the dimensions within it would commence quite soon.

"But who decided that?" Su-hyeun asked in a combative tone. He wasn't asking that because of his curiosity, though.

He wouldn't let that happen, was what he was trying to imply. It didn't matter whether it was a Primordial God or not; he was planning to fight them right until he couldn't fight anymore.

"Mm, I wonder," but then, Master Subhuti suddenly stared intensely at Su-hyeun and asked, "Tell me, who do you think has decided it?"

"Huh?"

"The universe has already met its destruction repeatedly. There are no universes with an infinite lifespan. Even most of the gods who boast about possessing infinite lifespans will perish at the end of the universe, too. The universe will eventually get destroyed so that it could be reborn again."

"But there's no reason that has to be now."

"Well, it's bound to happen sooner or later whether you like it or not."

What an inflexible statement that was.

It seemed that he didn't care about the destruction of the universe or matters related to it from the get-go. Then again, Subhuti was someone with no attachment to life itself in the first place, and that was why he didn't stop his age from taking hold of him.

Any further arguing from here on would basically be meaningless.

More importantly, though, a new guest had joined them by now.

"What are you two doing up there?"

Step, step—

The Bull Demon King was walking closer while being bathed in the bright moonlight.

His silver hair was sparkling under the pale light. Master Subhuti looked over to the Bull Demon King, then whispered in a soft voice, "I'll leave it up to you, young man."

"Understood."

Shu-wuwu—

Subhuti's figure melted into the tree itself.

Su-hyeun shook his head helplessly after watching the old god instantly transform into a tree branch.

"Seriously now, with him, it's like I'm witnessing some crazy magic trick," Su-hyeun inwardly sighed.

Su-hyeun was confident he would not get surprised by an odd thing these days. Even so, he had to admit that every so often, Master Subhuti's techniques came across as too otherworldly and bizarre to him.

For instance, turning into a part of a tree just like now, or even getting absorbed into the ground, things like that.

His "sorcery" technique seemed to have already become a part of nature itself. At this point, it would not be strange to see him somehow create heaven and earth outright with a slight exaggeration.

After confirming that Master Subhuti was gone, Su-hyeun jumped down to the ground below the tree and greeted the Bull Demon King, "You're here, First Brother?"

The Yogoe quietly stared at the spot where Subhuti used to be, then asked a question, "Weren't you with uncle just now?"

"Yes, but he said something came up, so he had to leave right away."

"Something came up?" asked the Bull Demon King looking somewhat unconvinced.

Then again, he wasn't some ordinary idiot who would fall for an excuse that flimsy. Even though that was the case, Su-hyeun couldn't come out and say the truth out aloud since he promised Master Subhuti.

Still, what a relief it was.

"Yes, I'm sure he has many things to prepare."

The Bull Demon King was a rather quick-witted individual, after all. He figured out easily enough that Master Subhuti was deliberately avoiding him.

Even so, he pretended to not notice it because he knew the real intentions of Subhuti all too well.

"Were you able to discuss many things with him, then?"

"Ah, yes, more or less..."

"Is that so?" the Bull Demon King smiled meaningfully, then began walking away. "Come with me for a little walk," he said.

Step, step...

The Bull Demon King took the lead, and Su-hyeun didn't say anything as he followed after him. Su-hyeun didn't make any sound and remained quiet.

They reached their destination about one hour of silent walking later.

The Bull Demon King led him to a massive oriental palatial complex located within the forest.

"This place is...?"

"It's my old home."

Walking for one hour might have covered some distance, but in the end, it wasn't as far as one might think. If one chose to run or even use the Earth Shrink Technique, one could have reached this place in the blink of an eye.

When Su-hyeun heard that it was the home where the Bull Demon King used to live, he instinctively scanned the complex.

Its scale was rather considerable. Although it wasn't tall, the overall length stretching left to right must have been well over a few hundred meters.

It was hard to even imagine just how vast this whole place must have been inside. Quite a lot of dust had accumulated on the perimeter walls. Still, some traces of human activity could be spotted here and there.

"First Brother, have you been coming here often?"

"I stop by once every year or so, and today is exactly one year since the last time."

"So how come—?" Su-hyeun was about to ask why the Bull Demon King wasn't staying in this sprawling palatial complex but stopped himself in the end.

Between a small hut only around four square meters big that could crumble to dust at any given moment and a massive palatial complex stretching for tens of thousands of square meters, you didn't have to be a genius to figure out which one would be a better place to stay.

Despite not even going through with his question, the Bull Demon King still understood what Su-hyeun wanted to ask.

While stepping across the entrance of the complex, he spoke, "This is where I lost my previous family."

"I'm sorry?"

"I killed them."

The moment Su-hyeun heard that, he felt like his breathing suddenly stopped.

He killed his family. Those words sounded even worse when knowing how deeply the Bull Demon King cared about Sun Wukong, the Roc Demon King, and Su-hyeun.

When Su-hyeun stood around awkwardly, not knowing what to say, the Bull Demon King decided to continue to break the ice instead, "Do you remember the time when Wukong went berserk on us?"

"Yes."

"That was the true nature of us, the Yogoes. We may seem similar to humans on the surface, but we're not that much different from monsters on the inside. We sometimes lose our reasoning and go berserk and lose ourselves to our baser desires."

Creaaak...

The Bull Demon King cast his gaze over the various spots of the palatial complex, the location where he used to live with his family a long time ago.

Su-hyeun, looking around the place after being cognizant of that fact, began spotting several dried blood spots here and there that hadn't been erased or washed away through time just yet.

"I was no different. Even though I tried so hard to suppress it, I failed. And despite knowing this, I got greedy for something that I shouldn't have desired."

"What greed are you referring to?"

"I fell in love with a human woman. Such a thing is an absolute taboo among the Yogoes. Even so, I loved her, and with her by my side, we built our home here and lived together. For ten years, we were truly happy."

Ten years—to the Bull Demon King, something like that would be like a blink of an eye since compared to the length of time he had lived, a decade would indeed just be a fleeting moment and nothing more.

However, this thing called reminiscence—one's longings and regrets—was bound to be mired in some of the briefest brief moments one could imagine. Because you could never turn back the clock, those moments would inevitably feel even more tragic.

The current Bull Demon King was stuck in that stage.

"Ten years. Ten years was my limit—a limit of time that I could remain as a human and not as a Yogoe, that is."

Su-hyeun didn't need to hear the rest to figure out what happened next.

The Bull Demon King, too, seemed less than keen on discussing the events back then and quietly tucked his memories away.

"Afterward, I found myself with a new family. I also learned the Sage Arts so that I wouldn't end up like back then. I really did put in a great deal of effort over the years. Whenever Wukong went berserk, I suppressed him, and when he woke back up, I patted him on the back just like how I had always been doing."

"Is that your lingering regret, First Brother?"

"I can no longer clearly remember the face of my wife. I promised that one day I'd find her again, but oddly enough, it didn't become my lingering regret."

"In that case?"

"My little brothers..." For the first time ever, the Bull Demon King's voice was audibly laden with his emotions. "I need to look after them, but..."

This was the first time that the Bull Demon King's voice was laced with such genuine emotions.

"If it's us, you don't have to worry too much about—"

"Do you honestly believe that Osiris will only target uncle?"

When the Bull Demon King said that, Su-hyeun was instantly rendered speechless.

Master Subhuti had requested Su-hyeun not to divulge any information on the current matter to anyone. And as per the request, Su-hyeun didn't bring this matter up with anyone, which obviously included the Bull Demon King.

However, the Bull Demon King already knew about the "relationship" between Osiris and Master Subhuti.

Su-hyeun asked, "How long have you known, First Brother?"

"Did you think I would be doing nothing after uncle disappeared out of the blue?"

"Why didn't you say something?"

"What good would talking among us do, anyway? All I can do is get stronger, and that's about it."

Su-hyeun recalled the time when he first met the Bull Demon King.

The Yogoe instantly figured out that he was under the influence of the "power" called the system. Back then, Su-hyeun chalked that down to the Bull Demon King's innate mysterious power or something like that, but that wasn't entirely correct, as it turned out.

No, he already had knowledge of almost everything by then.

"Youngest brother," the Bull Demon King began, his voice now containing so many emotions.

"Yes, First Brother?"

"May I burden you with a favor?"

Goh-oooh, goh-ooooh—

The entirety of the palatial complex began shaking ominously, with the spot below the Bull Demon King acting as the epicenter.

Both heaven and earth seemed to be quaking as the ground caved in deeply. This incredible pressure, heavy enough to send deathly chills down Su-hyeun's back, suddenly manifested, causing him to swallow back his saliva.

And then, an image of a gargantuan white ox could be seen standing behind the Bull Demon King, and it was glaring at Su-hyeun. That was the true nature of the Bull Demon King, the primal instinct of a Yogoe.

"That favor..."

Shu-ru-rung—

Su-hyeun unsheathed his sword and gripped it with both hands, then respectfully got into a stance, "I shall gladly take it on, First Brother."