The Hero Returns

The still silence went on for a while.

King Yama was making a face quite different from when he first showed up here. Instead of rage, his expression reflected surprise, conflict, and so on.

Behind Su-hyeun, the portals to the Needle Hell, Starvation Hell, Slumbering Hell, Sand Hell, and Ghostly Hell, among others, had appeared.

All sorts of hells existed indeed. King Yama instantly recalled all of their names as soon he laid his eyes on them.

That shouldn't come as a surprise since they originally belonged to him, to begin with.

"You sure possess a lot of them, don't you?"

All these numerous hells, which were now under Su-hyeun's control, happened to be the ones King Yama lost to Osiris.

"After I killed Osiris, they became mine for some reason. You said there were 1,000 of them, but as it turns out, it's a little more than that."

"Right. It's one thousand and twenty-two."

"I'm willing to hand over one hundred of them."

King Yama's brows quivered.

"Not all of them?"

"Aren't you being too greedy, sir? To think that you'd try to take away all the cards I'm holding in one sitting."

"But they were mine, to begin with!"

"I'm sure you said the same thing to Osiris in the past."

Rather obviously, demanding their return one-sidedly since he was the original master wouldn't work here today.

Like Su-hyeun said a minute ago, he and King Yama were not allies. They were neither allies nor enemies, but they simply kept up their ambiguous wariness of each other at all times.

King Yama was much closer to being a neutral party in this case. Meaning he was in no position to demand anything from Su-hyeun one-sidedly.

"One hundred, you said."

Getting back 100 hells was not a bad offer. Although the remainder did make King Yama feel a bit rueful, he knew that the current situation was different from how it was with Osiris.

For one thing, Su-hyeun didn't care about ruling over hells or the vast army contained within. As long as he had them, they should end up in King Yama's hands sooner or later.

"Looks like I have no choice but to agree to it."

The initiative this time belonged to Su-hyeun.

He was strong enough to defeat Osiris, so subduing him through brute force was out of the question. Not only that, but Sun Wukong was right next to him, too.

If King Yama refused to take up the offer and created bad blood between him and Su-hyeun, then those 1,000 hells Osiris had stolen away would never return to Yama's possession.

"You made the correct decision."

"When can I get the remaining hells back from you?"

"It should be when I have other favors to ask of you."

"Sounds like things will get tiresome for me, then."

"We'll be in your care, in that case."

Giii-iiing—

The portals to various hells that appeared near Su-hyeun closed up. At the same time, many small dots of light floated on top of King Yama's large palm.

Their number was exactly 100.

That was the sign that 100 hells currently belonging to Su-hyeun came back to the fold.

"I confirmed it."

"So, please tell us."

"I spoke to the Bull Demon King right after he finally ascended. After ridding himself of the lingering attachment over his family, meaning you lot, he directly came to see me."

"Can you tell us why?"

"He wanted to find someone. The Bull Demon King seemed to be under the impression that the woman he was searching for had reincarnated somewhere and wanted me to locate her. He's probably staying next to her even as we speak."

There was no need even to ask who that woman was.

Sun Wukong spent practically an eternity with the Bull Demon King, so that was rather obvious to him. Even Su-hyeun had heard directly about the Bull Demon King's history from the latter.

"Where are they?"

"The Path to Reincarnation. That's where those who never committed a crime or finished paying for one must go. Initially, one doesn't linger around there long as it's simply a place you pass through. But that woman chose to stay there for a very long time."

"Did they finally meet?"

"They did. A destiny like that is practically impossible to come true, yet it happened nevertheless. And it happened after one died, and the other had to ascend to godhood, too. The will of those two managed to change their destiny, it seems."

"It's a wonderful tale, isn't it?"

Such a fated meeting wouldn't have happened if one of them gave up midway. However, she waited for him patiently, and the Bull Demon King eventually ascended to become a god, allowing them to meet each other again.

"The Path to Reincarnation, huh?" Su-hyeun thought.

"In that case, we shall be on our way."

"When you find him, say hello for me."

"Yes, I will."

Su-hyeun and Sun Wukong left the spot right away.

Neither of them had ever been to the Path to Reincarnation before. That wasn't the living world populated with people or one of the 9,000 hells where the dead could be found.

Even so, the two still headed to the Path to Reincarnation to search for the Bull Demon King.

"You're not thinking of accompanying them?"

"Even if I go with them, there's not much I can do in the end, anyway. It's now up to those two to convince the Bull Demon King."

Buddha walked out into the open, his hands resting behind his back. His gait was slow and measured, seemingly taking only small steps forward.

Yet he traveled thousands of leagues in a single step to stand next to King Yama.

"The Bull Demon King has stopped caring about the world of the living by now. I should be the same as him, but how unfortunate, it's not possible for me at the moment."

"Sounds like you expect great things from those two."

"Subhuti and Odin are both gone. I, too, am a sickly old man now. No one knows where Lord Brahma is, while both Olympus and Asgard are currently left in ruins."

"It does sound more serious when you put it that way."

"Without the Bull Demon King, our struggle will be hopeless. He'll become the most important key in deciding the fate of this war that has gone far too long, after all."

"Doesn't matter which universe it is. It'll come to an end eventually, Buddha."

"And it's our job to delay that end as long as possible, Yama. But as someone who only stays in your netherworlds, I'm sure you find it hard to understand our position."

"Indeed, I can't understand you at all," King Yama scratched his head.

Unaffected by the repeated destruction of various universes, he was someone who waited for the birth of the new universes. As such, this whole thing didn't matter to him in the slightest.

"Even so, I have to say, this universe has been quite amusing so far."

"Amusing, you say?"

"Guys like Odin and Osiris showed up even though they weren't even Primordial Gods. This universe is remarkably different from the others in the past. Maybe you lot can truly delay the incoming destruction somehow."

It had been said before already, but the universe repeated the cycle of destruction and rebirth.

The process itself had mainly remained the same since the beginning. King Yama was an existence in full knowledge of this incredibly long history, so he couldn't help but be amused by the events of the current universe.

"As long as the Bull Demon King decides to get involved," King Yama considered.

<hr />

Finding the Path to Reincarnation wasn't difficult at all. It was easier than finding a specific world.

"The space between the living world and the netherworld… To think that such a vast expanse of space found between those two are all Path to Reincarnation."

Su-hyeun could only groan at length.

Staring at the vast expanse of the endless land covered in a thick fog made him feel that the future ahead of them was just as bleak and full of uncertainty.

"And how are we supposed to locate First Brother in such a huge place?"

The Path to Reincarnation was truly vast. Its vastness was incomparable. The world where Su-hyeun ran into Kali was hundreds of times larger than Earth, but even that planet was tiny compared to this place. Thus, making comparisons seemed like a moot point.

The Path to Reincarnation existed between the worlds of the living and the dead. In other words, all the space existing between countless worlds out there was basically the Path to Reincarnation.

The vastness of such a space was impossible to describe in words. Locating the Path to Reincarnation didn't automatically mean they could locate the Bull Demon King right away.

"It'd been so nice if I could use my Foresight right about now," Su-hyeun thought. It was truly a shame that he couldn't take advantage of Foresight, the power to peek into future events.

However, since Su-hyeun and Sun Wukong were both dead-set on finding the Bull Demon King, it was only a matter of time before that happened. It was the same thing as being written in stone.

Still, the issue was with "when" and "how long." If only he could use Foresight now and find out where the Bull Demon King was, they should be able to bring forward the eventual meeting a lot earlier.

"It's First Brother," Sun Wukong suddenly muttered, prompting Su-hyeun to look at his side. "I can smell him."

"His smell?"

"I told you, didn't I? My nose is better than a dog's." Sun Wukong began noisily sniffing the air. "I can definitely pick up First Brother's smell, but it's just too faint."

"Does that mean he came this way?"

"There's a smell of someone else, too. I guess that belongs to sister-in-law? But it must've been a long time ago. The smells are too faint."

Su-hyeun's expression of anticipation instantly switched to a deflated one. "Does that mean you can't track them down with smell alone?"

"Well, it might be difficult with their smell, but there's another way to make them come to us."

"How?"

"Like this."

Poof—!

A clone appeared next to Sun Wukong.

It was carrying a copy of Ruyi Jingu Bang. The real thing was broken in half, which was currently tied to Sun Wukong's back, but the clone handed over an intact copy to Sun Wukong, and then, he pointed its tip toward the sky. "Expand—"

"W—wait a sec—!"

"Ruyi!"

KA-BOOM—!

Gugugugu—

The ground rumbled, and the surrounding trees fell before tumbling into the deep crater that appeared below.

The crater in the ground was so deep that its bottom couldn't even be seen. Su-hyeun barely managed to grab hold of Ruyi Jingu Bang's shaft, then climbed up to the top. "You know, you could've warned me earlier."

"It's not like I'm trying to hit you, anyways. Besides, you're not so soft that you'd get injured by getting swept up in something like this."

Sun Wukong stood on top of Ruyi Jingu Bang and scanned the surroundings from high up in the air. He was searching for the Bull Demon King.

"Even so, that took me by surprise, you know?" Su-hyeun groaned again at Sun Wukong's sudden act. Then, he also began scanning the surroundings.

They had climbed past the clouds by then. The fog down below remained thick, and it obscured pretty much everything, but Insight made it so much easier to take a look around.

"Make the other side come searching for us, hmm?"

Without a doubt, Sun Wukong's Ruyi Jingu Bang was eye-catching. Something this tall should be visible for several hundreds of kilometers in all directions. If the Bull Demon King hadn't moved out of range by now, then he would see the staff and immediately realize that Sun Wukong was there.

Although simple-minded, this was a good plan, indeed. There was a slight problem, however.

"It seems that not just First Brother, but another unwanted company has noticed us as well."

Monsters found in various parts of the Path to Reincarnation were rushing toward Ruyi Jingu Bang. The act of grabbing attention seemed to be the one to blame here.

"Wait, do monsters live here in the first place?" Su-hyeun eventually shook his head.

"No, that can't be."

His Insight caught sight of a faint purplish light seeping through the veil of fog in the far-off distance.

That was a portal referred to as a dungeon in Su-hyeun's world. It was also a type of "virus" that Shiva created after he schemed for the downfall of this universe.

"Eh? Why are those monsters inside the Path to Reincarnation?"

Their unexpected appearance flustered even Sun Wukong.

Some other unwelcome intruders had shown up instead, rather than the Bull Demon King they were trying to summon. Sun Wukong might have been a fan of combat, but even he wasn't too pleased by this turn of events.

"It looks like even this place has run into a problem, Third Brother."

"Urgh. That bastard, Shiva, must be one heck of a diligent dude."

"For now, we should take care of them."

The problem was that the Path to Reincarnation was on another realm compared to the destruction of a single world.

This place was not the world of the living, but it wasn't hell either. It would fall under "afterlife," just like hell if one wanted to categorize it.

It was known that the dead could not die again. Excluding the instances of dying after reviving as an undead, the death of someone meant "complete extinction."

This "complete extinction" severed in the middle that infinite loop of reincarnation that allowed one to live a new life then die again.

All humans were bound to cross the Path to Reincarnation at one point. However, if this place was turned into pandemonium, then it was impossible to imagine just how many souls would get extinguished and never be reborn again.

"Eh, how annoying."

"Wow, this must be the first time you are annoyed by an upcoming fight, Third Brother."

"That's because we came here to find First Brother, didn't we? So, let's wrap this up quickly and be on our way," Sun Wukong replied unhappily, then placed his hand on Ruyi Jingu Bang. "Shrink… back? Eh?"

Gu-gugugu—

The staff began trembling.

Something deep, deep underground was lifting this copy of Ruyi Jingu Bang.

"What's going on?"

Su-hyeun was also standing on the staff, so he could feel it, too.

Something down there possessed enough monstrous strength to lift Ruyi Jingu Bang expanded to such a colossal size.

This was definitely not a display of some ordinary power.

Just as he began thinking that something much graver than he expected might be taking place in the Path to Reincarnation…

"Well, I'll be," Su-hyeun chuckled hollowly at this strange turn of events. "Looks like First Brother will scold us pretty good later."

"You two sure have raised an enormous ruckus, haven't you?"

Gu-gugugu—

Ruyi Jingu Bang was cleanly lifted in the air, and from the deep crater created by the staff, a voice they missed so much rang loudly.

"It's been a while, Third Brother and Youngest.."