Chapter 272 (1/2)
“That…bastard?”
What the Roc Demon King said at the end sounded far closer to an aimless muttering than a warning directed at Su-hyeun.
He couldn’t understand this situation. What he heard was simply not enough to form a full picture.
Whoosh—
Swish—
In the meantime, the massive golden palm flew in toward the duo once more. As if they had made a prior arrangement, Su-hyeun and the Roc Demon King dashed away simultaneously to dodge the incoming attack.
Su-hyeun quickly asked, “Okay, let me get this straight. Are you saying that we must not let our third brother meet a certain monkey?”
“That’s right!”
“You want me to take up that role, while you delay the Jade Emperor?”
“Right!”
“What about the other way around? I stay behind and you…?”
“No can do. If the third loses his mind and starts rampaging around, I won’t be able to stop him.”
“Eh?”
“In any case, stop wasting time and hurry up! You know I can easily lose this guy and get out of here if things get too dicey! Especially when I don’t need to worry about my back…” The Roc Demon King glanced at the Jade Emperor’s wrinkle-lined face, currently distorted unsightly, and finished the rest of his sentence. “I’m far quicker than him, anyway.”
“…Got it.”
Su-hyeun already knew full well that the Roc Demon King’s speed was truly incredible without someone drilling that fact into his ears.
That’s why Su-hyeun decided to act according to what he was told.
It would be a lie to say he wasn’t worried, but judging from the Roc Demon King’s reactions so far, he thought that preventing the meeting between Sun Wukong and this unknown creature was even more urgent at the moment.
“Where do you think you’re going?!”
Whoosh—!
The golden palm descended on the heads of Su-hyeun and the Roc Demon King once more.
They dashed in the opposite directions. Su-hyeun moved toward the exit.
“I won’t let you!”
Chwa-rururu—
Fwhoooosh—!
The jet-black air currents violently whipped about and rushed toward the Jade Emperor’s body. He hurriedly punched his way out and dissipated the storm winds created by the Roc Demon King.
“So, how is it now? Things have changed a lot compared to earlier, wouldn’t you agree, Jade Emperor?”
“Confuser of Heaven, you bastard…”
“My last brother is going to get pretty busy now, so why don’t I keep you company for a while, instead? You were so eager up until a second ago, so I’ll feel really lonely if you start looking away at someone else, you know?”
Despite the Roc Demon King’s glib remarks, the Jade Emperor still glanced at the back of Su-hyeun in the distance, having almost fully escaped from this underground area.
The Jade Emperor growled, “It’s too late. Even if he starts his chase now, he won’t prevent the meeting between the Great Sage Heaven’s Equal and the God of War.”
“Sure, that could very well be true. No, wait. It’s more than likely.”
Even the Roc Demon King understood that. He understood that it was already too late to start the chase now. That story would have been the same even if it was him giving the chase.
Despite knowing all of that, the Roc Demon King still chose to send Su-hyeun because he thought that chasing after the God of War was even more important than defeating the Jade Emperor in this place.
“It will be alright. The last brother will stop it, anyway.”
“He will stop it?! Do you genuinely believe those words?” The Jade Emperor laughed in dismay at the Roc Demon King and asked, “Are you saying that human will stop the Great Sage Heaven’s Equal?”
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Ka-boom—!
Pop, plop—
The fake Ruyi Jingu Bang thrown by a clone was shattered, its fragments scattering everywhere. Erlang Shen stopped swinging his guandao and carefully scanned between the gaps of the fake Ruyi Jingu Bang’s scattering fragments.
“Where are you?”
Whoosh, swish—
He could sense a presence darting around.
Sun Wukong was currently stepping on the falling fragments in the air to rapidly change his directions.
Although he had disappeared from sight, Erlang Shen could more or less tell where he was right now.
“So, when will you come at me?”
The seconds those Ruyi Jingu Bang fragments took to fall to the ground felt like an eternity to him. At the same time, though, he could clearly pick up on the movements of Sun Wukong as he made a move to stab him with the real Ruyi from behind.
Swish—
Whoosh—
As he spun his body around, he also took a powerful swing with his guandao. Almost at the same time, Sun Wukong, who was thrusting forward with his Ruyi Jingu Bang, immediately twisted his body and spun the magic staff about half-way up.
CLAAANG—!
The guandao and the Ruyi Jingu Bang noisily collided.
At this, Sun Wukong expressed his astonishment, “Wow, your instincts haven’t withered away yet.”
“Unlike a certain lazy monkey I know, I’ve tirelessly polished my spear skills every single day. Do not treat me the same as you.”
“This is why I can’t even praise you.”
Ka-clang—!
Their weapons got deflected away.
Sun Wukong spun the Ruyi Jingu Bang. Erlang Shen watched him regain his posture and asked, “Why haven’t you used your Somersault cloud yet?”
Erlang Shen had been in conflict with Sun Wukong for a long time, so he knew very well what kind of an artifact the Somersault cloud was.
It didn’t choose any master for what seemed like an eternity, so he found it incredibly strange when news got around that it chose some measly little Yogoe instead of a god as its master.
Until he finally ran into Sun Wukong, that was.
“Ah, that?” the master of that very Somersault cloud, Sun Wukong, replied while digging his ear with a finger. “I gave it to someone.”
“You gave it away? You gave away the Somersault cloud?!”
Erlang Shen’s expression crumpled in anger after taking that answer as an attempt to mock him.
The Somersault cloud was not something you could freely give away even if you wanted to. On the flip side, you couldn’t make it yours no matter how badly you wanted it either.
An artifact that chooses its own master—that was the Somersault cloud.
“That’s enough of your prank—”
Erlang Shen, furious at the thoughts of Sun Wukong messing around even now, suddenly stopped his sentence midway.
“A prank? Wait, why would he?” he thought.
If it were any other time, sure, but when it came to fighting, Sun Wukong would always be very serious.
But such a man was messing around in the middle of a fight?
There was no point in not using the Somersault cloud just to unsettle Erlang Shen’s psyche. Sun Wukong should know better than anyone that his opponent would not be shaken by a tactic to manipulate his emotions like this.
Which could only mean…
“The Somersault cloud really chose a different master?!”
The event of Sun Wukong acquiring the Somersault cloud happened well over tens of thousands of years ago. However, if the length of time that the artifact had been in existence would be considered, its ownership period shouldn’t be seen as an incredible length of time.
It was the “cloud of the beginning.” And the very first master it chose in hundreds of millions of years after its creation was none other than Sun Wukong.
Yet, “only” after a few tens of thousands of years later, the artifact’s new master had stepped forward. And only one existence among Sun Wukong’s acquaintances could be seen as a recent addition.
“It can’t be. That human…?”