The Hero Returns

* * *

Ka-boom—!

Craaaack, rumble—

The extended Ruyi Jingu Bang shaved a chunk off a cliff. Unlike its title of "Heavenly World's prison," the surrounding location currently resembled a devastated warzone, its previously stunning scenery completely destroyed beyond recognition.

CLANG—!

The Ruyi Jingu Bang that was seemingly extending forever was suddenly deflected upward. Erlang Shen swung the guandao upward from below and then spun his body to initiate his next slash.

Baaaaang—!

Sun Wukong's powerful punch and Erlang Shen's slash collided mid-air. Two gigantic powers canceled each other out and completely overturned the already ruined ground once more.

Fuu-haa—

"Man, you're really something else. You actually blocked that again?"

"Right back at you."

The exchange of blows had come to a brief standstill, and both Sun Wukong and Erlang Shen glared at each other as they formed mirroring disgusted expressions.

This fight had been going on for several days already. Never mind food, they didn't even have time to take a short break. Of course, such a thing didn't pose any problems to these two who had far surpassed the limits of common Yogoes or gods a long time ago.

Their real issue was with the intensity of this fight.

Both of them thought of this battle as their real last fight, so they didn't bother to hold back. As such, their stamina got depleted far quicker than usual, and even their powers of concentration had run out by now.

"How long are you planning to stand there and pant away? Are you tired already?" Sun Wukong asked as he raised his Ruyi Jingu Bang again.

Despite their fatigue, they still kept on fighting.

Even if their stamina had reached rock bottom, they still continued to fight by scraping off whatever little energy they could find at the bottom of the barrel itself.

This was all for the sake of determining once and for all who was stronger between them.

"It's only because you fool looked far too exhausted. I merely waited for you to take a breather."

"Hey, Mister General! I can see you still putting up useless airs over there, buddy."

"I've already resigned from my post."

"If you did, then you should learn to be more humble, you know? Humans nowadays call guys like you a bum. An unemployed bum."

"…Stop talking and come at me, you damn dirty ape."

Veins bulged on Erlang Shen's forehead.

Sun Wukong cackled and began spinning the Ruyi Jingu Bang once more. "Get bigger, Ru—"

Gu-wuwuwu—

But right at that moment, Sun Wukong's ears perked up. He could sense an immense aura. His head spun in that direction, and Erlang Shen belatedly turned his head in the same direction as well.

"Isn't that…?"

"Last bro?"

The playful smile on Sun Wukong's face disappeared in an instant.

Soon after that, he turned around while still holding the Ruyi Jingu Bang. Erlang Shen was far too distracted to notice this and belatedly shouted at Sun Wukong who was about to abandon their fight and go somewhere else. "Where do you think you're going, Sun Wukong?!"

"Sorry! Let's finish this some other time!"

"Are you running away?"

"I'm crazy about fighting, you know!" Sun Wukong replied while summoning a cloud to ride on by using his Sage Art since he no longer had the Somersault cloud with him. "But even then, my family comes first!"

Swiiiiish—

In the end, Sun Wukong left the battlefield using the cloud he summoned.

Erlang Shen could have chased after the Monkey King if he wanted to. He could have even prevented his opponent from leaving if that was what he desired.

However, he chose to do neither of those things. This fight wasn't about capturing Sun Wukong but to finally end their rivalry once and for all, after all.

"Dammit!" Erlang Shen spat out an expletive, which wasn't like him, and slung the guandao over his shoulder. "Looks like I'll have to wait until next time."

**

Swiiiiiiiish—

Riding on the cloud, Sun Wukong directly headed toward the Bull Demon King's residence.

The location of that immense aura was the mountain behind the residence. Both the Bull Demon King and the Roc Demon King had already arrived there.

Ta-dak—

Sun Wukong lightly leaped off from the cloud and landed next to the two Yogoes. They were currently staring at the top of the cliff found near the summit of the mountain. More specifically, they were looking at the semi-circular dome of an aura surrounding it.

"First and second brothers? What's going on?"

"Ah, you're here? So, did you win?" the Bull Demon King replied to Sun Wukong's urgent question in his usual relaxed voice.

The latter felt frustrated by such a laid-back response and hurriedly replied, "Bro, that's not really important right now. What about our last brother?"

"Well, you can see he's right over there, can't you?"

"But is it really him?"

Shudder, shudder—

Sun Wukong formed a flabbergasted expression after sensing the aura from a much closer vantage point. Without a doubt, this aura belonged to Su-hyeun. Yet the sheer scale or the purity of it was on a completely different realm compared to before.

"I've given him a Peach of Immortality, you see."

"A Peach of Immortality? Really?"

Sun Wukong soon figured out what happened to Su-hyeun from the Bull Demon King's statement.

The Peach of Immortality, a treasure of the Heavenly World and a miraculous heaven-defying elixir. It had already been several tens of thousands of years since Sun Wukong stole and devoured all the peaches, so a new batch must have matured by now in the Heavenly Peach Garden.

"Big brother, how did you even find a peach?"

"I was merely a delivery man. In any case, the important takeaway here is that our last brother has eaten a Peach of Immortality," said the Bull Demon King, but despite how his reply sounded, an expression of puzzlement was also etched on his face. "However, this still seems a little excessive. He may have consumed a peach, but such a level of concentration of energy is..."

Their last brother. He was not a Yogoe but a human being.

Even then, he possessed strength equal to the Great Sage Heaven's Equal. Not to forget, this little human brother of theirs was responsible for defeating the God of War Prince Nezha and the Jade Emperor.

"You've finally managed to get your foot in."

While both Sun Wukong and the Roc Demon King were swimming in shock, the Bull Demon King's eyes taking in the sight of Su-hyeun's transformation were filled with rueful sorrow.

Normally, possessing that much power as a human should mean that you would have no equal in this world. Maybe Su-hyeun was now powerful enough to wage war against the Heavenly World and take the Jade Emperor's head all by himself.

Even then, the Bull Demon King knew.

Su-hyeun had only managed to get his foot in the door. In a way, this situation was similar to him reaching the peak, only to be told that it was merely the beginning.

After learning about the kinds of monsters Su-hyeun would have to fight from here onward, as well as the height he was striving to reach, the Bull Demon King felt pity and sorrow from Su-hyeun's strength growing even greater.

"Yes, you should try to rise up even higher," the Bull Demon King muttered as he watched the aura spread out in a dome start swirling around Su-hyeun. "Aim to reach godhood, last brother."

**

Everything felt hazy.

This must have been his first time experiencing such a sensation, yet with every passing second, it became more and more familiar. Su-hyeun thought about it some more and realized that he had felt this sensation once before.

"When was it?"

It was as if he was being pulled into the depth of a deep, deep ocean; his consciousness just didn't want to emerge outside. It almost felt like he was waking up from a long dream.

The gears in Su-hyeun's head finally started moving again and forcibly recalled some memories of his past.

"Kim Sung-in."

The past or should that be the future rather?

For some reason, he remembered the name of his past life. A name that, in recent times, he had almost forgotten about. That could only mean that he had gotten more used to the life of being Kim Su-hyeun, not Kim Sung-in.

Despite that, he still recalled the name of Kim Sung-in and the life he led under that name because he felt a sensation similar to this one back then as well.

Kim Sung-in, humanity's greatest awakener.

And its hero.

"I was Kim Sung-in."

But he was also Kim Su-hyeun now.

While keeping his eyes closed, he felt for the magical energy spreading throughout his whole body. His consciousness might have emerged outside, but his body felt as if it was not touching the ground at all, which was similar to how he was submerged in water.

Squeeze—

Thankfully, he could send strength to his body.

Su-hyeun opened his eyes. He could see a transparent azure thing before him.

Did he really fall into an ocean, then?

Only then did Su-hyeun finally remember his current situation.

He drank the catalysts and then ate the Peach of Immortality. After doing those things, he focused on making all of their energy as his own.

"This isn't an ocean, but…"

It was only at this point that he finally realized what that transparent "sky" he found himself floating in was.

"Magical energy."

Shu-wuwuwu—

Shwa-aaaaah—

Su-hyeun's body began to suck in the half-transparent azure-colored energy he was floating in.

[Magic count has risen by 1.]

[Magic level has risen by 1.]

[Magic count has risen by 1.]

Soon after that, the messages he had been waiting for popped up before his eyes.

At the same time, Su-hyeun's floating body that was seemingly submerged in water landed softly back on solid ground. The hazy and dreamy feeling also disappeared, and everything reverted to reality.

"I…did it."

The first thing he thought of was that he had done it. Hoping that it wasn't a dream, after all, he urgently checked out his current status.

[Magic count: 91]

[Magic level: 9]

Both the "count" and "level" stats had reached a "9" figure. Although the "count" hadn't reached the height that his previous life, Kim Sung-in, had attained, as far as the level was concerned, he could safely say that he had managed to catch up.

"It's done."

This thrilling buzz traveled all over his body. It wasn't real electricity or anything like that, just his senses making a bit of mistake from the great sense of accomplishment he felt.

He certainly had been running on this path and working his butt off for a long time now. If all of his hard work up until now were to be seen as him simply fumbling about, then from this moment forth, he could say that he had taken his first step in the truest sense.

He turned his head. He could see his three sworn brothers looking up at him from the foot of the cliff.

Great Sage Heaven's Equal, the Great Sage who Confuses Heaven, and finally, the Great Sage who Pacifies Heaven.

Three Yogoes boasting the titles of great sages—they were also the brothers he managed to acquire during this trial.

In the past, they all seemed like giants. Even the weakest among the three, the Roc Demon King, was the world's fastest Yogoe. Sun Wukong boasted an indestructible body and a near-infinite amount of energy.

But why was it that the two of them didn't seem like giants at all anymore?

"Is it because I've gotten stronger?" he thought.

A level 9 magical energy.

This wasn't simply a new stage with a greater amount of magical energy or some such. His magical energy went through a transformation in its characteristics and pushed Su-hyeun's senses into an altogether higher realm after reaching this level.

And this was precisely the reason why awakeners thirsted for a higher level of magical energy. Also, this was another reason why the awakeners who did attain a higher magic level were labeled high-ranking in the first place.

"But the first brother, he..."

Su-hyeun's gaze drifted toward one of the three great sages standing down there, the Bull Demon King.

Without a doubt, Su-hyeun had acquired a power greater than before. He knew that he shouldn't be conceited, but still, it was a certainty that he was far closer to "Kim Sung-in" now.

But even then, the Bull Demon King seemed like a massive giant right now. He was like a new type of existence from a completely different dimension to the rest.

[The meeting of the administrators has concluded.]

[Will you move to the next floor?]

Those messages appeared after he consumed the Peach of Immortality and finished absorbing its power.

It seemed that the system, which was suspended for a few days due to that meeting of the administrators, had begun operating once more.

"It's good timing, too."

Su-hyeun looked back at the three Yogoes currently standing around together. He then bent his body down and performed a kowtow.

"Big brother, why is he kowtowing to us all of a sudden?"

"Did something happen?"

The puzzled faces of the Roc Demon King and Sun Wukong turned toward the Bull Demon King.

But unlike the two with "What's he doing?" expressions, the Bull Demon King was waving his hand at Su-hyeun. "Have a safe journey. I won't be too far behind you."

"What do you mean, safe journey...Heok?!"

"H—hey, last brother! Are you leaving us now?!"

The Roc Demon King gasped in surprise and hurriedly turned his head to look at Su-hyeun, while Sun Wukong was loudly shouting out at the latter.

They all knew that he would be going away sooner or later, but they never thought it would be this abrupt.

"Come visit us often, alright? Don't get bullied somewhere, too! And don't let someone beat you up either! If you think you can't win, then quickly come here and tell us! This big brother will go and beat that guy up, alright?!"

Sun Wukong's shouts caused a grin to break out on the kowtowing Su-hyeun's face.

He figured that, what with Sun Wukong's personality, their goodbyes wouldn't be that emotional, so this sort of response was a pleasant surprise to him.

"Do take care!" The Roc Demon King's goodbye was much shorter and simpler than the raucous Sun Wukong. "...Last brother!"

However, the emotion contained within his goodbye easily rivaled the other brothers'.

Su-hyeun heard it and realized that even the Roc Demon King had completely accepted him as part of the brotherhood. Knowing the Yogoe's past, he always thought that such a thing wouldn't be easy at all.

He was grateful.

Their species might have been different, yet they treated him like their real little brother.

"Thank you for everything."

Su-hyeun had experienced many trials up to this point, but this particular one proved to be truly special.

He earned a lot and got to learn many other things as well. They weren't limited to simply becoming stronger either.

He wanted to meet with these guys again in the future if there was an opportunity to do so. And if such a thing did happen, then he would like it to be not for the reason of needing to do something with them but simply to have a laugh, to talk, and to share some delicious food with them.

Just like a real family, in other words.

A short while later, Su-hyeun forced his unwilling steps to turn away from there and headed to the next floor.

[You have exceeded the clearance requirements for the 60th floor's trial.]

[The result from the meeting of the administrators will now be announced.]

[You're now being transferred to the 99th floor.]