The Hero Returns

* * *

"And so, in the end, it has happened this way."

Master Subhuti raised his teacup.

He quietly closed his eyes and savored the tea's taste. Below him, and all around him, was a sea of pure-white clouds acting as comfortable cushions.

However, he wasn't the only god sitting on the clouds at the moment. He was accompanied by none other than his teacher, and they had been observing the events of the mundane world below for some time now.

"Which direction will the universe flow now that the Great Sage Who Pacifies Heaven has ascended?"

It was Buddha.

Subhuti put the teacup down and opened his eyes. The Buddha before his eyes looked quite unlike the version that Sun Wukong encountered so, so many years ago, with a much smaller and frailer figure.

Not even Subhuti knew which one was the real Buddha's body, however. No matter how proficient he was with Insight, he was still unable to find out the truth.

No one among the Five Godly Sages managed to figure it out, either.

Subhuti spoke up first, "Whether the eldest will be absent from the upcoming war or become an even more invaluable strength for us after his ascension, the choice he makes from this moment on will be crucial."

"Even before he ascended, he was an invaluable war potential."

"Even so, master, now that he has ascended, is he not the perfect candidate to take over my role? He is far better suited for the role than my aged and sick self at any measure."

Subhuti was diseased and had significantly weakened. If he wished to stop the process of getting old over time, he could've done so at any time he wished, but Subhuti chose not to.

He wanted his existence to disappear along with the flow of time eventually. As such, he didn't prevent his given lifespan from running out and patiently waited for his clock to reach its end.

And when that day comes, a spot within the Five Godly Sages, the one occupied by Master Subhuti, would become vacant.

"The eldest will surely do an excellent job, master. If it's him, he certainly is more than good enough to be called one of the Five Godly Sages, after all."

"That is indeed true..."

Buddha used his frail, thin hand to lift his teacup.

The tea's surface reflected the figure of the Bull Demon King leaning his shoulder against a certain woman.

How long did it take them to meet again like this?

Their love began at the birth of the universe, and as the end of the universe loomed, they met each other once more.

Not only were the Bull Demon King's patience and suffering worthy of respect, but even the woman's perseverance in waiting for this long demanded great respect from the others as well.

"There would never be another love as deep as theirs in this universe. I am not keen on disrupting their time together," said Buddha.

"But for the sake of their love, we need the eldest's aid, master."

"Meaning, we must not be lost in the small picture but focus on the big picture instead?"

"It's only this disciple's wish, master."

"Hmm..." Buddha then finished the tea in one go.

His incredibly parched throat felt clogged and tight. There was the event of the impending death of his disciple with whom he had spent a truly immeasurable length of time. Still, he was deeply concerned about the turbulent times ahead for the universe after Subhuti's death.

Only the Bull Demon King seemed to be the suitable candidate to fill the void. But that didn't mean they could request or even demand him to take over Subhuti's role.

Right now, he looked to be the happiest man in the universe.

"What will we do from now on?"

Since they probably couldn't request the Bull Demon King directly for a while, they needed to proceed while assuming that the Yogoe would not be playing any further part.

Subhuti pondered on something for a little while at Buddha's question before he replied, "Lord Zeus is currently searching for Lord Brahma."

"That's not going to be an easy task."

"As for my target... it will have to be Osiris."

Osiris was one of the Three Destroyers, an existence referred to as the king of Predators.

If Shiva were left out of the equation, he would be the strongest and most significant Predator alive. If they could hunt down and kill someone like that, then the war could very well unfold more advantageously for them.

Buddha asked again, "Are you planning to fight him?"

"No, master. It will be impossible for my current abilities. No, wait—even back in my heyday, I still wouldn't be able to do anything to Osiris."

"Indeed. He's not alone, after all."

Osiris possessed an army. Not just any army either, but one boasting a scale several times greater than the one found in the Dark Realm.

Subhuti alone was simply not strong enough to do anything to someone like that.

"That's why I'm thinking of powering him up, master," Subhuti replied, then shifted his gaze over to the surface of his tea. The clear liquid was currently reflecting the scene of Su-hyeun sparring with Sun Wukong. "So that he becomes strong enough to battle Osiris."

* * *

Even after the Bull Demon King ascended, the daily lives of Sun Wukong and the Roc Demon King didn't change much.

Sun Wukong would be munching on grass for the whole day, while the Roc Demon King had chosen to return to the village. As for Su-hyeun, he decided to act as the Monkey King's sparring partner by wielding a copy of Ruyi Jingu Bang that a clone used.

During the sparring sessions, Sun Wukong looked excited. He didn't seem to be under some duress or anything like that while going about his daily activities, either.

"What a relief," Su-hyeun thought.

Su-hyeun put the copy of Ruyi Jingu Bang down and plopped down on the ground.

The sparring proved to be rather challenging. The most apparent reason for that was the polearm's weight. It was surprisingly heavy.

"I still can't get used to it."

"What, you mean Ruyi Jingu Bang?"

"Yes. It's not so heavy that I can't pick it up and swing it around, but to swing around something this heavy without much problem is a bit—"

"Even so, you seemed pretty good with it, you know?"

"Precisely controlling it is still difficult, Third Brother. And imitating you to spin this staff around with one hand or changing its trajectory mid-swing is completely out of the question for me."

"That can't be the issue with your physical strength, though. Hmm... I'm sure it's because of the difference in weight from your normal weapon. I mean, honestly, you and I don't have much difference in physical strength."

Sun Wukong was stupidly strong. He freely wielded Ruyi Jingu Bang even back when he first met Su-hyeun, after all.

However, the current Su-hyeun was not weaker than Sun Wukong in terms of pure physical strength. No, wait—he was slightly stronger in reality.

Even so, he still found controlling Ruyi Jingu Bang incredibly difficult because he was pretty unfamiliar with deploying his powers efficiently for a weapon that heavy.

"Even back in the past as Cheon Mu-jin, I never wielded a weapon this heavy."

This fact remained true even after combing through Su-hyeun's previous life as Kim Sung-in.

In the case of Cheon Mu-jin, his level in martial arts was so incredibly advanced that he could perform heavenly techniques like "Blooming Flower Substitution" or the "Art of Redirecting Force."

However, the difference in the weapon's weight, in this case, was on another much more ridiculous level altogether. If it was simply the matter of using weaker force to manipulate or deflect the greater force, then sure, that seemed doable. But to deal with Ruyi Jingu Bang's massive weight, an item initially meant to measure the depth of the ocean floors, one required a great deal of effort to master the necessary skillset.

"So how about it? You think you can handle it?"

When Sun Wukong asked that, Su-hyeun contemplated his answer for a bit before shaking his head, "No, brother. It's too difficult for me."

"Really? But I thought you'd be fine with it, though."

"It looks like a sword is a better fit for me rather than a staff, Third Brother. My stance is just too unstable, and honestly speaking, I'm far more proficient in handling the sword."

He wasn't wrong there.

It was indeed true that Su-hyeun's primary weapon was a sword. Even Cheon Mu-jin's martial art stances were all primarily focused on swordsmanship as well, not to mention the fact that even during his current life, a sword was the weapon he most relied on and used for the longest time.

But that didn't strictly mean that a staff didn't suit him either.

He might not be able to control it to the same degree as Sun Wukong, but even so, he probably didn't need too long to reach the Monkey King's level of proficiency.

"I'll need around two, maybe three years, tops," Su-hyeun inwardly guessed.

Sun Wukong's staff technique was genuinely excellent, yes, but Su-hyeun already had prior experience of wielding staves as his primary weapon, all thanks to a particular martial artist who had almost attained the position of the number one under the heavens by relying solely on his staff technique.

He was Jang Chun, the Crimson Hill Staff, a staff-wielding mass murderer.

Thanks to his indiscriminate killing spree, he was designated the enemy of all Murim. Every member of the subjugation force dispatched to kill him ended up as a broken corpse at his hands, turning the battlefield, a nameless hill, into an ocean of blood.

That man was no saint since, well, he was a mass murderer. In a way, he could be an even worse villain than Cheon Mu-jin, who drove his world to the brink of destruction for no good reason.

As such, Su-hyeun was less than keen to utilize the martial techniques of Jang Chun if he could help it.

Most importantly of all...

"If I say it's fine, he will probably give me the staff for real," Su-hyeun thought.

The last thing the Bull Demon King said to Sun Wukong was his request to look after Su-hyeun.

The Monkey King might be an immature and recklessly fearless individual, but his love and sense of duty toward his family were perhaps stronger than anyone else out there.

Someone like that suddenly asked Su-hyeun to try using Ruyi Jingu Bang.

The reason for that seemed rather obvious.

"He's probably trying to look after me no matter what it takes."

However, Su-hyeun didn't wish for that. Sure, having Ruyi Jingu Bang as a weapon would be pretty good, but that was just about it.

Not only was he not confident of lugging around a staff this heavy on his back just as Sun Wukong did, but he also didn't feel much of a need to do so.

More importantly, rather than spending two or three years just to get proficient with Ruyi Jingu Bang, it would be a far more efficient usage of his time to search for another way to become stronger.

"Third Brother, what are your plans from now on?"

After losing his first family from the Mountain of Flower and Fruit, Sun Wukong always stayed next to the Bull Demon King. But the Bull Demon King was no longer around. He had ascended, and the Roc Demon King had settled down in a human village.

Since Sun Wukong was very good with the transformation technique, he would probably have no problem living among the humans.

But whether he would do that or not was still unknown. Also, whether or not Sun Wukong would stick around in this house alone was another unanswered question.

"For now, I'm thinking of going along with uncle."

"You mean, Master Subhuti?"

"Well, yeah, he doesn't have many years left, after all."

Su-hyeun flinched a little when Sun Wukong said that, then he cautiously gauged the latter's mood.

As it turned out, the Monkey King wasn't bluffing here. He knew the truth already.

"Huh. What was I supposed to keep as a secret, again?"

Subhuti requested Su-hyeun not to speak of his dwindling lifespan to anyone, yet it seemed that it had been too easy to see through the old god's ruse.

But then again...

The Bull Demon King already knew the truth, so there was no reason why Sun Wukong wouldn't have figured it out by now, too. Not only that, but he even had a sparring session with Subhuti not too long ago as well.

"I noticed that uncle has gotten a lot weaker. He seemed to be trying to hide it from me, but even so, I can tell that he's not hung up on extending his lifespan."

"Are you alright with that?"

"I can see First Brother again in the future, but uncle... Well, the dude himself wants it this way, so we are in no position to stop him."

Now that was surprising.

What Sun Wukong said just then seemed entirely at odds with his usual manner of speech or mentality. Since the Bull Demon King's ascension, Su-hyeun had been getting a feeling that the Monkey King, despite his behavior, seemed to have matured a lot recently.

"No, wait," Su-hyeun quickly corrected his opinion. "It's not that he's gotten more mature." He then sneaked a glance at Sun Wukong's expression. "Right, he's already a mature person, to begin with."

Even though he acted as the youngest of the brothers and fooled around like a spoiled kid, he was much older than Su-hyeun's estimation.

It would probably be difficult to find a god among the ones alive right now that was older or at least as old as Sun Wukong.

As it turned out, Su-hyeun had been the one acting like a kid all this time.

"We've rested enough, so should we get going again, Third Brother?"

When Su-hyeun got back up while dusting his clothes, Sun Wukong looked up at him and asked, "Ng? Will you be fine, though?"

"Yes, don't worry. Honestly, it's not like I was exhausted, anyway. Oh, and this time," Su-hyeun pulled out his sword, "I'm going to use my sword instead of the staff."

The sparring just now was to learn staff-wielding techniques from Sun Wukong, who was proficient with using a staff as a weapon.

But the sparring session this time would be where they get to pit their real strengths, which was something Sun Wukong earnestly wished for.

"Now that sounds like fun," Sun Wukong replied and jumped back up to his feet while lifting Ruyi Jingu Bang.

But something else happened around the same time.

Ku-rururu, rumble...

The white fluffy clouds floating around in the sky suddenly changed into dark storm clouds, and lightning and thunder began cracking within them.

"Huh?" Sun Wukong stopped moving and muttered while looking up at the sudden gathering of the storm clouds, "It's uncle."

Flash—!

A lightning bolt struck down and split apart a nearby tree in half. At the same time, Master Subhuti using a well-made wooden stick, made his appearance there.

"Sir, that seems like an unnecessarily flashy entrance."

Subhuti, who had been absent for the past few days, reappeared on the scene while being accompanied by thunderclaps and storm clouds. He might be famous for commanding nature itself, but it was still questionable whether or not he needed to make such a grand entrance just now.

"It couldn't be helped since I wanted to get here sooner. Apologies if I ended up being a bit too noisy."

"Uncle, First Brother—"

"Don't worry. I saw it all, Wukong," Subhuti nodded at Sun Wukong, then shifted his gaze over to Su-hyeun. "Both of you, you need to come with me to a particular place."

Sun Wukong tilted his head at that.

Su-hyeun likewise made a puzzled face at that sudden announcement of them needing to go somewhere. "Where are we going, sir?" he asked.

Subhuti heard Su-hyeun's question and used the walking stick to tap the ground below his feet. "To the 'Hell of Scorching Heat.'"