The Hero Returns

* * *

One hour earlier.

After discovering the location where the Jade Emperor resided—the city that formed the center of the Heavenly World itself—Sun Wukong and the Roc Demon King tried to rush in there without any plan whatsoever. But Su-hyeun managed to stop them just in time.

"Argh! What is it now?" Sun Wukong started complaining.

"Let's think first before making our move. Please."

"I won't get killed, anyway. All I need to do is go over there and wreak havoc, that's all."

"You may not die, but you can still be captured like the last time, yes? Brother, if I hadn't rescued you back then, you'd still be stuck inside the Crucible right now."

At Su-hyeun's words, Sun Wukong let out a pained groan and roughly scratched his head.

Those words weren't wrong. For sure, Sun Wukong did rush in here without thinking the last time and ended up getting caught by the Heavenly World's army.

"Back then, what happened was that this guy lost his mind after hearing the news about the Jade Emperor going through with the policy of exterminating all humans and Yogoes alike. It's not that much different this time too, is it?"

"Things are more urgent now, though. We really only have five days left, after all."

The Roc Demon King recounted the tale from the past, and Sun Wukong urgently piped up at the end.

He no longer displayed that relaxed demeanor from before their departure. It seemed that his hot-blooded nature was finally emerging as the Heavenly World stood right before their noses.

Su-hyeun spoke up next, "Before we do anything, let's set some clear goals first. What is the most important part of our mission?"

"It's the head of that bastard Jade Emperor."

"Good. Do you know where he is, then?"

"Well, that..."

"Do you believe you can find him? Remember that a king will never show up first. He will only appear right toward the end."

Su-hyeun's words caused Sun Wukong to deeply furrow his brows.

Those words weren't wrong either. Their purpose wasn't to wage open warfare but cause chaos and kill the Jade Emperor at the end, that's all.

"Alright, so what do you want us to do, then?"

"We should create a situation where the Jade Emperor simply has no choice but to make an appearance."

"How?"

"First of all..."

**

KA-BOOOOM—!

The fortress gates of the Heavenly World exploded.

Numerous gods were either injured or killed off outright, and almost in an instant, an emergency alert was made throughout the entire Heavenly World.

"Enemies!"

"That's the Ruyi Jingu Bang!"

"The Great Sage Heaven's Equal is here!"

Noisy shouting broke out, but that only made sense.

The gods who managed to survive the previous "war" against the Great Sage Heaven's Equal would certainly know all about the master of that massive pole invading the Heavenly World.

"...So, they finally came."

Creeeak—

Inside an unremarkable and worn-down house.

The Jade Emperor, buried deeply in a rocking chair, slowly opened his eyes. In front of him was Erlang Shen who was kneeling on one knee.

"Erlang Shen, you do remember what you need to do from now on, don't you?"

"I shall be on my way first, your majesty."

Erlang Shen stood up and bowed deeply before retrieving his guandao resting in the corner of the room. He then exited from the house.

Step, step—

The sounds of his footsteps taking him outside were measured and heavy.

He had been doing his best to suppress it in the presence of the Jade Emperor, but for a while now, Erlang Shen had been emitting such terrifyingly sharp fighting spirit that merely standing near him would result in one's body being cut up into pieces.

The Jade Emperor mulled to himself, "Does his sense of duty exceed even his desire to win?"

Erlang Shen...

Prince Nezha might have overshadowed him in the past, but even then, he remained fiercely competitive. However, his unshakeable sense of duty burned even brighter than before.

The current situation perfectly demonstrated that point.

The Heavenly World was under attack. This wasn't even the first time but the second. To make matters worse, the opponent today was the same person as 500 years ago—the Great Sage Heaven's Equal.

"He will stop the Great Sage even if it means his death."

Erlang Shen was that sort of a man, after all—a general who silently defended the Heavenly World even well before the Jade Emperor had become the ruler of this world.

If the god of war, Prince Nezha, was the spear of the Heavenly World, then Erlang Shen was its shield.

After the general left, the room became devoid of any other life besides the Jade Emperor. He slowly closed his eyes and listened to the loud rumble of the Ruyi Jingu Bang that was wreaking havoc in the Heavenly World once more.

"Oh, the Great Sage Heaven's Equal…" the Jade Emperor muttered to no one in particular as the rumbling continued. "Are you aiming for my head then?"

A smile crept on his face.

Finally, the day had come.

The Great Sage Heaven's Equal, the existence that completely devastated the Heavenly World several hundred years ago.

The Yogoe that inflicted a huge scar on the emperor's chest and left a truly humiliating and unforgettable record in the history books of the Heavenly World.

"Come, monkey king." The Jade Emperor opened his eyes into narrow slits, the glare in them sharp and cold. "This is my trap laid out for you."

**

"It's the Ruyi Jingu Bang! Run!"

"Run…!"

KA-BOOOOM—!

Aaaaahk!

Uwahk!

The Ruyi Jingu Bang extended and swept away all the gods that were trying to pounce forward. Every time the magical pole was swung, the bodies of dozens of gods were crushed beyond recognition.

Sun Wukong dodged the spears thrown by the gods and jumped into the air.

"Looks like there aren't any Titans around..."

The race of Titans. That title was reserved for those Heavenly World's gods with very large bodies. They resided in a different location in the capital city, and for the longest time, they served as the guards of the Heavenly World's prison, as well as the chief gatekeepers of various districts.

However, there didn't seem to be any Titans around here since all he could see at the moment were regular gods.

"Man, this is just no fun." Sun Wukong licked his lips as he stared at the gods that were rushing outside the destroyed fortress gates. He then opened his mouth wide and roared, "Stop sending out these small fries, and tell that bastard Jade Emperor to come out!"

Boooom—

Sun Wukong's roar reverberated throughout the sky.

Since his purpose was as clear as day, it was obvious that the Heavenly World's gods would never even entertain the thoughts of wheeling out the Jade Emperor here.

No, more correctly, they were not even planning to allow Sun Wukong to enter the capital of the Heavenly World, in the first place.

"Where do you think you are?"

"You think the Heavenly World will be trampled upon by a mere monkey like you?!"

"Know your place, you damn filthy ape!"

The gods glared at Sun Wukong in pure rage. However, not many of them dared to pounce on him.

They were afraid of him—afraid of the Great Sage Heaven's Equal and his martial prowess.

Terrified of the Great Sage's reputation as the one who had flipped the Heavenly World on its head with just the Bull Demon King as his company.

Puh-hat!

Sometimes, the one causing the others to become afraid of him would be the first to notice their fear. Such as the case now.

These gods had not recognized their own fear due to their pride in being the Heavenly World's warriors, as well as their sense of duty that told them to protect the Heavenly World. Yet their opponent Sun Wukong had managed to pick up on that first.

"Bunch of cowards."

Sun Wukong slung the Ruyi Jingu Bang over his shoulder.

All these gods before his eyes were too pathetic and laughable.

Sun Wukong was the holder of the title, the Victorious Fighting Buddha. Not even once in his life did he feel afraid of a fight. But right now, all these gods who were ostensibly trying to fight him were shivering away in fear because of him.

"You lot are not even worth fighting."

Of course, Sun Wukong didn't let his guard down even though he said that. He also didn't choose to take another powerful swing with the Ruyi Jingu Bang at the gods before his nose.

Step, step—

Heavy footsteps rang from among the gathered gods.

"Aren't you a slowpoke?" Sun Wukong already knew who those footsteps belonged to even before the nearby gods managed to figure that out for themselves. "Erlang Shen."

Sun Wukong suddenly became much more serious, which was a complete opposite of his temperament until a second ago as he cackled and mocked the gods.

"So, you finally came, monkey."

Ssha-aah—

The air grew cold in an instant.

The atmosphere was more than capable of simply sending chills down your skin. The actual temperature had changed with Erlang Shen's entrance.

"Here we are, meeting sooner than I expected. Five hundred years ago...was also the same as today."

The gathered gods parted at the entrance of Erlang Shen and opened up a path for him.

The confrontation between him and the Great Sage Heaven's Equal—no god present today had not heard about the tale of just how long these two existences had fought each other.

For one, the reason why the Great Sage was captured and thrown into the eight-way trigram Crucible 500 years ago was due to the combined work of Erlang Shen and Prince Nezha.

"If that idiot Nezha didn't interfere back then, the victory would've been mine. That stinking bastard, busy mouthing off about being a warrior and a general's backbone and stuff, yet hitting me in the back when I wasn't looking," Sun Wukong grumbled.

"Do not be mistaken. Back then, we were following our majesty's orders. Prince Nezha couldn't go against them. Besides, that battle would have ended in my victory anyway."

"Hey, Erlang. You've grown a lot more talkative, haven't you? A lot must have happened in the past 500 years, I guess?"

Erlang Shen was originally the silent and taciturn type. These two men had never met each other in informal gatherings before, but a very few other Yogoes knew the Heavenly World's general as Sun Wukong did. Fighting each other for a long time would tend to do that.

"Looking back, it's always been like this," said Sun Wukong as he spun the Ruyi Jingu Bang in his hand, his eyes firmly locked on Erlang Shen. "You never had enough confidence to fight me alone. Every single time, you'd show up with all these annoying small fries and then use them as your little meat shields. Or are they god shields, instead? In any case..."

Whoosh—

Sun Wukong pointed the Ruyi Jingu Bang at Erlang Shen. "How about it? Just the two of us. Let's have fun by fighting for real. But I'll understand if you're too scared and won't want to."

"Meat shields..." Erlang Shen glanced at the gods near him at Sun Wukong's words and then nodded contemplatively. "Let us do so then."

Fwhoooooosh—

He answered Sun Wukong's naked provocation by dashing forward.

And so, the 23rd battle between the Great Sage Heaven's Equal and Erlang Shen commenced.

**

Rumbleeee—

The Heavenly World was in an upheaval.

The capital city where various gods resided and where the imperial palace, the Jade Emperor's home, stood tall to welcome the high-ranking gods to its hallways—the city that provided a home to hundreds of thousands of gods was being raided once more.

"Is it the Great Sage Heaven's Equal again?"

"This isn't too surprising, however. We all anticipated something like this would happen, didn't we?"

"It's our job to make sure he doesn't set foot here."

The army's deployment for the purpose of exterminating humans and Yogoes was scheduled to take place in five days.

Everyone already knew that the Great Sage Heaven's Equal wouldn't sit idly by and let that happen. He had been in love with humanity for the longest time, and he was also the king of all monkey Yogoes that resided in the Mountain of Flower and Fruit.

Therefore, it was already predicted that they would have to fight the Great Sage Heaven's Equal either before or after their deployment.

"There's nothing to be surprised about! All of you, arm yourselves and man your positions!"

These gods were given a single task—to prevent the Great Sage Heaven's Equal from causing yet another pandemonium in the Heavenly World.

For that purpose, they couldn't let him reach the Jade Emperor's imperial palace. That would only besmirch the pride and honor of the Heavenly World.

"We only have to contend with three opponents! Not only that, one of them happens to be a weakling human! Do not be afraid! Today's glorious battle will be the very first one in many that will usher in the never-ending prosperity for our Heavenly World!"

The Heavenly World's general roared in a prideful voice at his subordinate soldiers.

Waaaaaah—!

Soon afterward, loud cheering resounded from them.

Their morale before the battle was at its absolute peak. The Heavenly World's general smiled in satisfaction, his expression displaying how good he felt inside.

But it was then…

"Who said there were only three?"

That a foreign voice cut through the loud cheering and entered the general's ears.

"That's wrong, you see."

Gu-gugugugu—

Crunch, BOOM—

Kiiii-aaaaah—!

Only a moment later, massive monsters broke through from the ground and began rising up one by one. Their sudden entrance threw the amassed soldiers of the Heavenly World into unbridled confusion.

"G—general, sir! This…!"

"N—no reason to panic! Stay calm and form the ranks...!"

Too obviously, his orders were way by the book—proof that he was just as confused at the moment.

The general of the Heavenly World's army couldn't figure the situation out and instead urgently turned his head in the direction of that unfamiliar voice. "Who are you?!"

"I guess you aren't asking me for my name, so I wonder. If you're asking me who I am, then..."

Split—

The third eye in Su-hyeun's forehead opened. And when it did...

[Third Eye - Predator]

A vast quantity of magical energy blanketed the land, and the pressure from Su-hyeun's presence began crushing down on the Heavenly World's army.

"I'm that weakling human."