The Hero Returns

Su-hyeun had been overlooking something all along—Sun Wukong's special trait.

Was it Godhood of Immortality?

That was indeed something amazing. Su-hyeun paid that trait most of his attention until now, and nobody out there would blame him for worrying about the sheer scale of the shadow cast by that "ability."

However, if one asked whether or not that ability was the most dangerous one in Sun Wukong's arsenal, the answer was a no.

Ruyi Jingu Bang?

The godhood to control clouds?

The cloning technique?

Or his insane strength level and incredible reflexes that relied on his instincts?

It was of those.

The factor that acted as the foundation for all of them was…

"His infinite energy reserve."

There was a heavenly elixir called the Peach of Immortality.

Su-hyeun consumed it before, so he was well aware of the truth of how every single one of those peaches contained an indescribably vast quantity of magical energy.

The peaches found in the Heavenly World's Peach Garden needed a near-eternity of time to ripen, and Sun Wukong had gobbled up all the peaches found there.

That was how his infinite energy reserve came about.

It affected every one of Sun Wukong's abilities, granting him the most incredible power imaginable.

"The reason why Third Brother couldn't utilize all of that power until now was that his physical body wasn't strong enough to endure the infinite energy reserve."

To put that in another way, the stronger Sun Wukong's body became, the greater the quantity of energy he could use.

And now…

"I guess his body can support the energy reserve, then."

Sun Wukong was unlocking the powers of being a Yogoe.

Su-hyeun already experienced what that power was like. He found it rather impossible to imagine the upper ceiling of the power Sun Wukong's body could handle now.

The result of all that was the current situation.

"Even so…" Su-hyeun train of thought continued.

"Isn't this a bit too extreme?" he let out a long groan.

Every clone was real. More correctly, they all possessed strength that matched the real body.

These bodies came from Sun Wukong's hair. They possessed real, tangible physical bodies and shared pieces of his soul, too.

It was impossible to determine the real body since all of them were "real."

"Hey, I also didn't know it was doable, you know?"

"Hey, I also didn't know it was doable, you know?"

"Hey, I also…"

All the "Sun Wukongs" opened their mouths in unison. They also acted at the same time.

"Here I come."

"Here I come."

"Here I…"

Bang, bangbangbangbang—!

Hundreds of Sun Wukongs attacked simultaneously.

Whoosh…

In that brief window of time, the world came to a sudden stop in Su-hyeun's view.

This moment, shorter than a blink, felt as long as a day. Su-hyeun slowly breathed out within this space where every second was as long as one hour.

Others might think that he was quickly sucking in a deep breath, but for him, this length of time was long enough to calm himself down.

Su-hyeun swung down his sword, "I will not hold back, too."

[Thunder Sword – Explosion Style]

[One Sword Cutting Through Everything – Earth Divider]

FLASH—!

RUMBLE—!

Striking down, his sword let out a thunderous roar and sliced apart the group of Sun Wukong in half. The attack that came down with the speed of light initially seemed to have chopped apart over half of Sun Wukong clones, but in reality, only a few ended up with minor nicks and scratches.

Fwhoooosh—!

BOOM, claaaang—!

Flash—!

Rain of Thunder poured down from the sky while a firestorm raged on as all sorts of deadly magic spells exploded forth.

"Extend—"

That voice came from behind him, and Su-hyeun's head turned in that direction.

"Ruyi!"

Ka-boom—!

Ruyi Jingu Bang shot out to crush Su-hyeun's figure.

It extended to crush him, but…

Creak, creaaaak—

The staff couldn't extend any further past a certain point because of the black energy circling Su-hyeun's figure.

"Dude, I'm telling you. That's too much of a cheat!"

"That's not something you should say, Third Brother."

Su-hyeun's voice came from behind Sun Wukong, who attacked Ruyi Jingu Bang just now.

At the same time, a sword came down hard on this Sun Wukong's back.

Smaaash—!

Slice—

Sun Wukong was flung far away with a fairly deep sword wound on his back.

Su-hyeun, moving so fast that other Sun Wukongs couldn't even react in time, scanned the rest of the clones and muttered softly, "Strike them."

He gripped Gungnir in his hand.

"Somersault cloud."

FLASH—!

The azure light flashed ominously within the clouds, and right at that moment…

RUMBLE—!

Pazzzzzzik—!

The azure lightning bolt slammed down to the ground. Sun Wukongs instinctively sensed the incoming danger and hurriedly fled in every direction.

There was no damage in the end, though. Not a single Sun Wukong clone got sucked into the azure lightning.

"Eh?"

"What was that all about?"

The eyes of the Sun Wukong clones grew wider in confusion.

They had all fled to the edges of the arena after picking up a bone-chilling aura, but the azure lightning wasn't even aimed at them in the first place.

The lightning landed somewhere above Su-hyeun's position.

Bzzz, pah-sususu—

The azure electrical currents enveloped Su-hyeun's figure. The darkness completely changed its color to pure blue while emitting a frightening aura.

Kyaaaah—

A roar came from his sword next—a cry of a divine beast.

And it was something Sun Wukong had heard a few times before, too.

[Thunder Dragon – Miru]

A dragon was now permeating Su-hyeun's sword.

Sun Wukong had been alive for so long that not even he could remember just how long it was. However, despite his long life, he had never heard about something like this being possible.

"Seriously now." Sun Wukong, feeling the intense wave of exhilaration washing over him, grinned deeply as both of his eyes became golden in hue, "You are the best, little bro."

<hr />

FLASH—!

KA-BOOM—!

The azure lightning energy exploded as Su-hyeun's sword slammed down on Sun Wukong's Ruyi Jingu Bang.

Crack—

The staff shattered. However, Su-hyeun's sword didn't stop there.

Splaaat—!

Sun Wukong's chest was sliced open. Blood splattered in the air, only for this clone's body to turn into puffs of smoke and disappear.

Shu-shushu—

It was the same story for the blood. Sun Wukong's white hair revealed itself right after the disappearing act.

No matter how close to the real deal these clones were, they were still clones at the end of the day. They would vanish if enough impact force landed on them.

"Expand—"

"Ruyi!"

Ka-boom—!

Giiii-iiiing, whoooosh—!

Ruyi Jingu Bangs flew in from left, right, front, and back. The four staves clattered against each other, causing a series of deafening noises.

Crack, craaack—

All four staves even cracked, too.

Suddenly agitated, the Sun Wukongs aimed and let go of their weapons. A certain ominous foreboding began assaulting them just then.

Sure enough…

Kwa-zzzzzzik—!

BOOM—!

Ruyi Jingu Bangs gradually blew apart from their tips. Then, azure electrical currents and crimson flames exploded from the splitting shafts. If they had reacted a little slowly, then without a doubt, they would've been sucked into the maelstrom of electricity and fire.

On the other hand, Su-hyeun, who got hit by four Ruyi Jingu Bang, was completely fine—so fine, in fact, that he felt a bit embarrassed about being tense just now.

"Only the clones' bodies possess the same level of abilities as the real deal. However, he couldn't recreate Ruyi Jingu Bang."

The durability of the cloned Ruyi Jingu Bangs was relatively poor.

That was why the attacks using the staves weren't as dangerous as he thought. This was the crucial clue to finding out who the real Sun Wukong was, something not even Insight could do.

Sun Wukong didn't seem to have expected this turn of events because only now did he and all the clones drop their Ruyi Jingu Bangs to the floor.

He finally realized that attacking his staff was pointless.

"Without weapons, hmm…"

Su-kak—

Su-hyeun glanced at his sword for a bit and contemplated before sheathing his weapon.

"That doesn't sound so bad."

<hr />

Smack—, bang—!

Swhoooosh, poooow—!

Su-hyeun's fist smashed into the midriffs and faces of Sun Wukong clones rushing in at him from all sides. He then vanished from the spot before kicking the face of another clone.

Pa-zzzzzzik—

Rumble—!

The lightning energy within his fists punched a hole in the abdomen of another clone. The thunderous roar accompanied by the arcs of azure lightning, plus the image of a dragon, repeated the cycle of filling up the arena before vanishing from the view.

Grab—!

Su-hyeun grabbed the throat of one of the clones. He leaped in the air along with his victim in tow before powerfully plunging back to the ground.

FLASH—!

KA-BOOM—!

The center of the arena caved in deeply, and Sun Wukong's figure was buried so deeply that the ground continued to rumble and shake.

Kyah-aaaah—!

A dragon's roar resounded.

"Here it comes again."

Gordon Rohan shielded his eyes with his hand. That roar was quickly followed up by the rays of light so bright that it almost blinded him.

Sure enough…

RUMBLE—!

Accompanied by a loud crack of thunder, an azure lightning dragon shot out from Su-hyeun's hand. The ferocious dragon looked like it would devour the entire grandstands, but it got transported to another dimension through Su-hyeun's doorway in the nick of time.

Two more Sun Wukong clones got swept away by that dragon.

Meanwhile, Su-hyeun was still busily moving around.

"What a mess this is," Gordon Rohan lightly tutted while watching the match.

He thought that someone like Sun Wukong would be a good opponent for Su-hyeun. He was confident that the fight between the two would serve as the highlight of this year's Ranking Wars.

But what's happening now exceeded that expectation by a significant margin. Not just Gordon Rohan, but pretty much everyone else watching had never imagined that a battle of this nature could even be possible.

"Well, looks like I'll have to rebuild the arena."

The arena floor was already caved in so deeply that the bottom couldn't be seen anymore.

RUMBLE—!

It wasn't that surprising, considering the level of destruction Su-hyeun and Sun Wukong caused to the surrounding terrain as they traded blows.

However, that didn't mean Gordon Rohan was brave enough to stop their match. The expressions on their faces were far too serious for that, plus Gordon Rohan had a feeling that interfering at the wrong time could result in his untimely demise.

In all honesty, their battle was not something he could do anything about.

Gordon Rohan muttered to himself while watching the fierce battle between Su-hyeun and Sun Wukong, "A heaven above heaven, is that it?"

"I'm sure that's the case."

Gordon Rohan's head snapped to the side at that unfamiliar voice.

Maybe his high tension from watching the match was to blame, or he was just taken aback by that voice. Whatever the case might have been, he was already gripping his spear without even realizing it.

However, as if to betray his alertness, the voice owner happened to be a very old man.

"They are beings who acquired both the qualifications of godhood and divinity, after all. Oh, and this is a battle between the two of the strongest among the next generation meant to guide this universe, so this shouldn't come as a surprise, wouldn't you agree?" the old man muttered before turning his head to stare at Gordon Rohan. He noticed the latter's profoundly wary face and asked another question, "What are you so surprised about, fella?"

"Just what are you?" Gordon Rohan asked back in a tense voice.

Since people were watching, he couldn't aim with his spear, but he did not doubt that this old man was rather odd.

It wasn't as if he emitted an especially dangerous air or bloodlust. It also wasn't as if he possessed a massive aura or had a bizarre appearance.

He was bald, and his skin was so wrinkly that it was nearly impossible to guess his age. His limbs were so thin that they were nothing but skin and bones.

Even so, any living person was supposed to possess some energy or presence. At a bare minimum, they should make some sounds or make your skin itch with their gaze. Something as minor as that should exist for a human being.

However, Gordon Rohan couldn't sense anything from this old man.

"You don't have to be that suspicious, fella. I only came to see you since you're the man in charge of this event."

"In that case, I'd like you to make your introduction, now. Isn't it unfair that only I don't know who you are?"

"If I tell you that I'm Buddha, will you believe me?"

"Buddha…?"

Gordon Rohan heard the old man's reply and quickly scanned the latter from top to bottom.

Buddha, he said?

Initially, it did sound like some joke. Even so, this old man before his eyes couldn't be a regular person since he didn't give off any presence whatsoever.

"Well, the actual Sun Wukong has shown up already, so why not Buddha, in that case?" Gordon Rohan nodded silently.

Buddha chuckled affably, "Thank you for believing me."

"Why did you seek me out, Lord Buddha?"

"I wanted to pass on a message to those two, but I wasn't sure when they would wrap up their fight. I'm also rather occupied at the moment and need to leave soon, so I thought that you could maybe deliver the message for me."

"Where are you going?"

"Well, I have to go somewhere, but even I'm not sure where exactly."

What on earth was he even saying?

He was going somewhere but didn't know where?

Gordon Rohan asked, puzzled, "What are you talking about?"

"I'm not going to a destination, but I'm going to find someone. It's not that easy tracking that person down, unfortunately."

It sounded rather complicated, Gordon Rohan thought.

He mulled something over, then hurriedly moved on with the conversation while thinking that he didn't want to get involved in something troublesome, "In any case. What is the message?"

"It's only this one thing," Buddha spoke while getting up from the chair. "The Bull Demon King has been found. And…."