Chapter 273 (1/2)
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It happened about 10,000 years ago.
The Mountain of Flower and Fruit was turned into a devastated wasteland overnight. The blood that stained the mountainside all came from the monkeys that used to live in that mountain.
Drop, tumble—
And the debris from the collapsed mountain continued to tumble down to the ground.
The Bull Demon King scanned this scene for a little while before muttering softly, “It seems that the shock our last brother has suffered was too much.”
“It’s my first time seeing him react like that, too. But it makes sense, considering that the monkeys of this place were his first family,” the Roc Demon King replied while taking in the sight of the mountain’s debris with some sadness in his eyes.
The Roc Demon King was in a bad shape himself. He and the Bull Demon King had to combine their strengths to subdue Sun Wukong when he went on a violent rampage upon learning about his family.
Even then, he didn’t pay much attention to the state of his body. He instead began emitting thick killing intent toward the unknown murderer, the instigator of this event.
“Just who was responsible for this?”
“I’m sure you’ve already guessed it by now.”
“Was it really him? The Snub-nosed Monkey Spirit King?”
“I also do not wish to believe it, but…”
Even the Bull Demon King felt deeply confused about this situation. However, he had clearly seen it—he saw the sight of his other sworn brother, the Great Sage who Chases Gods Away, Snub-nosed Monkey Spirit King, ceaselessly slaughtering the monkeys of the Mountain of Flower and Fruit earlier.
“I shall find that bastard and…!” the Roc Demon King hissed murderously.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
“Isn’t it obvious, brother? I shall find him right away and rip him to pieces!”
BANG—!
The Roc Demon King’s rage-filled stomp caused the ground to crack apart. “That bastard has killed his own family! The family that he spent all of his life with! And, and…”
He couldn’t continue the rest of his sentence out of sheer anger. But after seeing the complicated expression etched on the Bull Demon King’s face, he calmed down somewhat and finally finished with what he wanted to say.
“And he ripped our last brother’s heart to pieces, you know?”
“Yes, I know.”
The Bull Demon King’s voice sounded heavy. His voice that always seemed to resemble roaring flames sounded so cold and calm right now.
That only happened when he was greatly enraged by something, however. “I know it only too well.”
Unfortunately, there was a reason why he couldn’t express his rage right now.
“Our last brother, are we certain that he doesn’t know who’s responsible for this event?”
“I think so. Who else would know the full truth other than you, big brother?”
“In that case, it’ll be fine.”
The one most enraged and saddened by this event was obviously Sun Wukong himself.
Grit—
“In that case, keep this a secret between us. The Snub-nosed Monkey Spirit King…has perished in this place as well. Our last brother must think that way. As for the Snub-nosed Monkey Spirit King…”
This day would be forever etched in the Roc Demon King’s memory as the day that the Bull Demon King had exposed his strongest killing intent toward any living creature.
“I shall definitely exterminate him.”
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“Big brother—!”
A loud voice reverberated from a distance. Although it would be the first time either Erlang Shen or the Snub-nosed Monkey Spirit King had heard that voice, they could instantly tell to whom it belonged.
“Is it that human?”
The human who had defeated the former God of War, Prince Nezha.
The Snub-nosed Monkey Spirit King became extremely wary at Su-hyeun’s appearance. He no longer paid attention to Sun Wukong who had blood profusely spluttering out of his chest as he collapsed to the ground.
Swhoooosh—
Screeeeech—
Su-hyeun’s figure landed in between the Snub-nosed Monkey Spirit King and Erlang Shen.
He was so fast that, other than Erlang Shen, the Snub-nosed Monkey Spirit King found him too quick to even respond to. The latter flinched nastily at the speed and hurriedly raised both of his arms to protect himself.
Whoooosh—
Clang—!
A spear that flew out of Su-hyeun’s hand rapidly closed in on the Snub-nosed Monkey Spirit King.
The latter quickly dashed far back as blood dripped down from his arm. As for Erlang Shen, he had already dodged far into the sky by then.
Sizzle—
As the two opponents moved to create some distance between them, Su-hyeun took a quick scan of Sun Wukong’s current condition as soon as he arrived on the scene. The Monkey King’s eyes were glazed over, and while shielding his head, his entire body continued to convulse intermittently.
Urgh, euh, euh…
Su-hyeun took a look at a “ring” that had appeared on Sun Wukong’s head.
“The golden headband?” he thought.
The Sun Wukong from the mission didn’t wear this unmistakable golden headband. Su-hyeun had been chalking this discrepancy down to this Sun Wukong being rather different from the “Sun Wukong” he knew from the epic, “Journey to the West.”
However, it wasn’t that the headband didn’t exist; it simply couldn’t be seen until now.
“But, isn’t this…?”
The aura leaking out of Sun Wukong felt rather ominous. His previously pure aura was rapidly turning turbid, similar to the demonic aura emitted by the Roc Demon King.
It could only mean that the effects of the Sage Arts were getting weaker as his original Yogoe powers were getting stronger in turn.
“Dammit.”
Su-hyeun hurriedly placed his hand on Sun Wukong’s head and began injecting his magical energy. He did it to somehow suppress the aura that was about to go wildly out of control and to calm Sun Wukong’s chaotic mind.
“Erlang Shen.” It was at this point in time that the Snub-nosed Monkey Spirit King turned around and addressed Erlang Shen. “We must get out of here. Right now.”
“Before that, I must hear your explanation of the current situation.”
“For now, let’s get to a safe distance first. Because soon…” A twisted grin floated up on the Monkey Spirit King’s face as he stared at Sun Wukong who was lying huddled on the ground below. “That idiot will start his crazy rampage.”
The moment he finished saying those words…
Swiiiiiish—
Kwa-gagagagak—!
All focus left Sun Wukong’s vision, his eyes turning white, as he suddenly swung his fist without any warning. His sharp claws tore apart the ground below and overturned the earth.
Whoooosh—
Su-hyeun, who was observing Sun Wukong’s condition until then, hurriedly jumped into the air. If he had been a second late, those claws would have ripped him apart as well.
“Third brother?!”
Grrrr—
Sun Wukong’s current state was too strange.
The lack of focus in his eyes was one thing, but more concerning than that was the aura coming from him, as well as the overall atmosphere he exuded. Both of those things had completely transformed by now. More than anything, his enraged expression and the indiscriminate killing intent made him look like a total stranger.
“Is it because of the golden headband?”
Su-hyeun glanced at the Snub-nosed Monkey Spirit King who was quickly creating some distance. It seemed that he had a role to play in Sun Wukong’s current state.
It was also at this point that he finally recalled the hint he got half a year ago from the gatekeeper before starting the 60th floor’s trial.
“Remember that the most dangerous enemy is always near you. This is your hint”
The most dangerous enemy.
Always near you.
When Su-hyeun first heard that, he figured that it must have had something to do with someone betraying him. However, the “enemy is always near you” didn’t necessarily mean a betrayer. Not always.
“So, that was the third brother?”
Grit—
Su-hyeun gritted his teeth as he stared at Sun Wukong. Somehow this situation had progressed into one where he now had to fight against the Great Sage Heaven’s Equal.
“If the third loses his mind and starts rampaging around, I won’t be able to stop him.”
Those words belonged to the Roc Demon King.
It seemed that he was talking about a situation similar to this one. The Roc Demon King must have predicted that Sun Wukong would transform like this.
“So, I must stop him somehow?”