The Hero Returns

"First Brother!" Sun Wukong cried out as his complexion brightened considerably.

Su-hyeun felt the same way. Still, he hurriedly made a suggestion first, "Hang on a minute. Shouldn't you shrink Ruyi Jingu Bang first?"

"Ah, right. Shrink down, Ruyi!"

The massive Ruyi Jingu Bang heard Sun Wukong's command and instantly shrunk down in size before returning to his grip.

Su-hyeun chuckled hollowly again at this funny situation, "Who would've thought that he was within the range of Ruyi Jingu Bang's effects?"

Was it purely coincidence?

No, that couldn't be it. The odds of the Bull Demon King coincidentally being in the same area as them in this vast expanse of the Path to Reincarnation had to be even worse than winning the lottery three or four times in a row.

"In any case, he's definitely going to bite our heads off later."

Thanks to Sun Wukong's rash action, the Bull Demon King got trapped under Ruyi Jingu Bang and was buried underground.

Unsurprisingly, the Bull Demon King could be seen casually emerging from the crater. In his arms was a slender woman holding onto his torso.

"Eh??"

"We are definitely in for a lot of scolding later, Third Brother."

Sure enough, the Bull Demon King was staring straight at Sun Wukong. His lips silently mouthed, "I shall speak to you both later."

Shudder…

Sun Wukong shuddered from that warning.

Even though he was happy about meeting the Bull Demon King again after a long absence, he was also scared of the scolding about to come his way.

The Bull Demon King floated while carrying the woman in his arms.

Meanwhile, a suspiciously large quantity of Dao energy circulated him. It seemed that he was about to do something big.

"I managed to clean them out, only for you two to bring all the flies back here."

Gu-wuwuwu—

They heard an ominous noise next.

"Coming from above?"

Crimson dots were visible in the skies beyond the fog.

Their number seemed to be in the hundreds, no, thousands.

Su-hyeun immediately figured out what those things were and quickly shook Sun Wukong's shoulder, "Third Brother!"

"Eh?"

"We gotta flee. No, wait—"

It was too late to flee by now.

"We need to defend ourselves."

[Somersault cloud]

[Ruyi Jingu Bang - Clone]

The surrounding fog coalesced and enveloped Su-hyeun and Sun Wukong. At the same time, Ruyi Jingu Bang widened in width and provided cover over their heads.

Bang, ka-booooom—!

Gu-wuwuwu—

Countless meteors rained down from the heavens next.

Many cracks appeared on the fake Ruyi Jingu Bang created through the cloning technique. Even though it was fake, watching the staff cracking apart like this was a good indication of how powerful the falling meteors were.

Screams and howls of monsters reverberated throughout the surroundings. Su-hyeun didn't believe any of these creatures were strong enough to survive the bombardment.

Hiss, sizzle—

Hundreds, no, thousands of craters formed on the surrounding terrain. When the noises of destruction finally subsided, Su-hyeun withdrew the Somersault cloud, while Sun Wukong took down Ruyi Jingu Bang only to notice how cracked it was and promptly chucked it away.

He then scanned their altered surroundings. "Wow, First Brother's temper is still the same, isn't it?"

"It's the same for you, Wukong."

Sun Wukong jumped up in surprise, then quickly turned his head to look at the Bull Demon King, who was already standing next to him.

The woman in his arms lowered her head a little to offer her greetings. Both Sun Wukong and Su-hyeun greeted back reflexively, then smiled sheepishly.

"We had no idea you were so close by, First Brother."

"I also didn't expect you to cause such a stir as soon as arriving here. Although that did hasten our reunion by several minutes—"

"If you're annoyed for my sake, you don't have to be, dear," the woman spoke in a gentle voice.

The Bull Demon King nodded back to her, "I wasn't annoyed by them, dear."

While saying that, he put the woman down. Su-hyeun observed them for a bit before noticing Sun Wukong's expression distorting a bit.

"What's the matter, Third Brother?"

"It's, uh, kinda hard to get used to First Brother acting like that."

"Why not? Looks good to me, though?"

"It's giving me goosebumps, you know? Euh…"

No further explanation was necessary at this point.

The gazes of both the Bull Demon King and the woman were dripping with sugary sweetness right now.

The Bull Demon King noticed Su-hyeun's faint smile while staring at them. He then asked his youngest sworn brother a question, "Well then, how have you been?"

"The standard answer should be that, yes, we've been alright, First Brother. As for you, I guess it's not necessary to ask."

"Instead of a verbal reply, seeing with your own eyes is the best confirmation, isn't it? And I'm relieved to hear that you see us that way."

Su-hyeun nodded at the Bull Demon King's reply, then scanned their utterly obliterated surroundings, "It's a bit weird to catch up in this place, so how about we go somewhere else?"

<hr />

The woman's name was Lang Mei.

They returned to the Bull Demon King's residence located quite some distance away. After returning, the first thing she did was prepare their tea in a somewhat professional manner.

Su-hyeun and Sun Wukong were taken aback by the size of this expansive estate, but then, they noticed the Bull Demon King's troubled expression.

"What's wrong, First Brother?"

"You shouldn't hold high hopes for the tea's flavor."

That reply was more than enough for Su-hyeun to figure out the cause of the Bull Demon King's troubles. "Is it that bad?"

"It tastes like she has brewed a shoe made out of straw."

"…"

Now that was a definitive assessment, wasn't it?

As far as Su-hyeun knew, you prepared tea by boiling some water and dunking a teabag inside, so he couldn't help but wonder how bad it could possibly be.

Soon enough, Lang Mei brought out their tea, and the group took their first tentative sip.

Sun Wukong's expression crumpled instantly, "Wow, the thing about the shoe was—"

"It tastes great!" Su-hyeun hurriedly cut Sun Wukong off in the middle of his sentence.

Lang Mei's expression brightened, "Really?"

Su-hyeun stammered in his reply, "A—ah, yes. It's like, uhm, it's been a while since I had a proper cup of tea like this one. Yes."

"I'm so relieved to hear that," she sighed in relief as if she had been deeply troubled until now.

Sun Wukong, belatedly reading the room, alternated his gaze between the Bull Demon King and Su-hyeun and then took another sip as his expression crumpled even more, "Y—yeah, it's delicious. Yep."

The funniest thing about this whole situation was the Bull Demon King. Here was the person who plainly said that the tea tasted like a straw shoe, yet he was now drinking it with an utterly serene expression on his face.

Su-hyeun realized that he, too, was part of this ridiculous event and snickered a little while avoiding Lang Mei's gaze.

"As I thought, the strongest person in the room is a woman," he quietly concluded.

Even the one and only Bull Demon King was entirely under the mercy of a single lady. Lang Mei's personality didn't seem to be pushy or spunky. Still, the Bull Demon King seemed to be minding her moods all the time.

Soon enough, the Bull Demon King introduced Lang Mei to Su-hyeun and Sun Wukong, "Lang Mei, this is Sun Wukong, the third one in our brotherhood, and this one here is the youngest, Kim Su-hyeun."

"Kim Su-hyeun? That's a unique name, isn't it?"

"I'm sure it sounds that way because my world's way of naming people is slightly different from your original world, ma'am."

"I'm Lang Mei. I've heard so much about you two."

While they chatted away, Lang Mei unexpectedly revealed her playful side and brought up a topic that even embarrassed the Bull Demon King.

"Would you like to know how my husband proposed to me the first time?"

Sun Wukong perked up, "Eh? What did he say? I never heard about that before, you know?"

"I'm kind of curious as well," said Su-hyeun.

The Bull Demon King quickly interjected, "It happened a long time ago."

"What's the matter, dear? When I told you that I couldn't remember it, you explained to me in full detail, didn't you?"

"Keu-hmm," the Bull Demon King fake-coughed then sheepishly tugged at Lang Mei's sleeve.

She grinned and lightly patted his hand as if to say she understood. She then got up from her seat, "I've been butting in for too long, it seems. The three of you must've been itching to catch up."

"Ah, no, it's alright."

"No, I'm not alright with that. I'll just hop outside for a little while, so you three should catch up in the meantime."

"Dear, don't go too far."

"I know."

Creeak—

Lang Mei bowed courteously to say goodbye, then closed the door behind her while leaving the residence.

Su-hyeun also bade her goodbye by standing up and bowing a little, then turned to look at the Bull Demon King, "Isn't it dangerous outside?"

"I've already set up a barrier. It can't be accessed from the outside, but one also can't accidentally stray outside of it. But in case the barrier is breached, my wife will still be fine."

"She will be? How so?"

"She's a sorcerer, you see. The first time I met her was when she showed up to seal me."

"Is that so?"

She was a sorcerer who stepped up to seal the Bull Demon King?

It sounded like she was someone extraordinary, judging from the explanation. Outwardly, she seemed like a regular person, but she must've been a renowned expert in the field of sorcery back home.

"But I didn't pick up any energy coming off of her," Su-hyeun thought.

Although not all of his questions were answered, Su-hyeun thought it didn't matter, anyway. He didn't come here to inquire about her, after all.

He asked, "How is the situation on this side?"

"Are you talking about those things that the people of your world refer to as a dungeon?"

"Yes. It seems like they are also showing up here."

The dungeon Su-hyeun spotted earlier was purple.

Even though it was taken care of relatively quickly by the meteor shower the Bull Demon King had summoned, the fact that a high-ranking dungeon had appeared did not change at all.

A purple-colored dungeon was difficult enough for a regular deity to deal with. Without the Bull Demon King, there probably wasn't anyone present in the Path to Reincarnation capable of dealing with such dungeons.

"Actually, Buddha stopped by not too long ago."

"He was here?"

"Yes. Yama must've told him where to find me. He said that he has been searching for me ever since my ascension."

"Does that mean you were waiting for us at the—"

"I was aware of you two coming here. Yes, I was waiting for you there."

Azure light swirled within the Bull Demon King's eyes.

Insight?

No, that was no mere Insight. Su-hyeun quickly realized that those eyes were seeing somewhere much, much farther ahead than he was capable of. "First Brother, are those the eyes of Foresight?"

"Even I didn't think something like this would be possible. Nonetheless, I was able to see."

"What did Buddha say to you?"

"Something or rather about the lifespan of the universe, the world of the living, and about Shiva and things like that. He asked for my help."

"Did you refuse him?"

"According to what he said, this universe is destined to repeat the cycle of destruction and rebirth, anyway. Meaning it'd start anew eventually. It is indeed the natural order of things."

In other words, he refused.

After his ascension, the Bull Demon King turned his back on the world of the living and pursued the fulfillment of his own life. In other words, he was taking it easy.

It was definitely not wrong to pursue a comfortable, carefree life. The Bull Demon King spent an uncountable time preparing for his ascension. As such, his decision to live how he wanted should be respected, even though his choice meant turning his back on the rest of the world.

He was someone who spent a near eternity preparing himself mentally to abandon all of his lingering attachments to ascend. It hadn't even been that long since that happened, so it would be far too cruel to ask him to look back at the world once more.

"Is that so?" Su-hyeun replied while fidgeting around the teacup containing the tea he didn't want to drink anymore.

There were two reasons why he sought out the Bull Demon King first while delaying his initial plan of searching for Brahma.

The first reason was as simple as just wanting to see his First Brother again. As for the second one, he wished to get the help of someone truly dependable like the Bull Demon King.

"I guess asking for more is unreasonable," Su-hyeun realized.

He already received plenty of help from the Bull Demon King. Considering all the things the latter had taught and gifted Su-hyeun with until now, wishing for more at this stage was simply an act of pure greed.

The Bull Demon King looked genuinely happy right now, too.

No matter what happens in the battle for this universe involving the likes of Shiva or the One Overlord, the Bull Demon King should possess enough wherewithal to protect himself at least.

"Are you planning to stay here, First Brother?"

"Most likely. For the time being, at least."

"In that case, we should be on our way first. Because it looks like this side isn't as peaceful as it seems."

Dungeons existed even within the Path to Reincarnation.

If they couldn't get the Bull Demon King's assistance, then Su-hyeun had to move on and deal with the matter that required his immediate attention. The happy reunion had to wait for another day.

Both the Bull Demon King and Sun Wukong knew this, too.

Sun Wukong got up from his spot, then, while holding the broken Ruyi Jingu Bang in both of his hands, addressed the Bull Demon King, "We'll be back soon, big brother."

"Alright. Take care of yourselves now."

The Bull Demon King had already emptied his teacup by then, even though he said the tea tasted horrible.

After all, the tea's taste was not important. What mattered was who brewed the tea in the first place.

"Youngest," the Bull Demon King suddenly called out, halting Su-hyeun's steps. "And Third Brother, Wukong."

Sun Wukong and Su-hyeun turned around at the same time. The Bull Demon King finished drinking the little bit of tea remaining. Then, with a face and a tone of voice not any different from a second ago, he addressed the duo, "Just one more time."

"Hm?"

"If this is what you dearly wish for, then…"

Before he finished his sentence, the Bull Demon King's expression was very briefly filled with emotions and reflection of the attachments he had discarded already.

He hesitated somewhat to finish what he wanted to say.

This moment was short, yet it also felt long.

After that long dilemma, he finally finished his sentence, "Just one more time, I shall help you.."