Chapter 481 - 481 (1/2)
”Please speak.”
Whatever the case might be, King Yama chose to pay attention to Su-hyeun's offers.
Thankfully, though, he no longer emitted the same level of animosity from earlier. It seemed that Su-hyeun's offers managed to entertain him.
”If you take care of my request, I shall choose the second one of your offers. You will be fighting Osiris eventually, or some other gods will inevitably kill him anyway. Therefore, that option is what you really want, isn't it?”
He said some things that indicated he had seen straight through Su-hyeun's thought process.
The first option took too long, while the odds for the third option were just too low. Even if Su-hyeun worked with Sun Wukong, there was no guarantee that they could bring down King Yama.
In all honesty, Yama choosing the second option was what he wanted the most.
”What kind of request is it?”
Still, this meant he got to turn most of the heat found in the Hell of Scorching Heat as his own, so Su-hyeun figured that it was not a significant loss to help out with a single request.
Of course, it was still dependent on what kind of request King Yama made. Even so, Su-hyeun planned to fulfill it as long as the task wasn't too outrageous.
”Somewhere deep inside this Hell of Scorching Heat is a lost little child.”
”A little child, you say?”
”That's right. Of course, it's a child only on the outside. Its actual age isn't that different from the Hell of Scorching Heat itself, but its mental age is definitely still stuck in the child-like state even now.”
”Is your request related to this child?”
”Try appeasing that child.”
Shu-rururu...
King Yama's figure scattered like smoke and drifted up to the sky.
Su-hyeun stared at the scattering, rising smoke and paid attention to Yama's parting words.
”If you manage to appease that nuisance, then I probably don't even need to ask for anything else.”
Su-hyeun made a puzzled face at King Yama's faint voice drifting down from the sky, ”That... nuisance?”
To think that the one and only King Yama would use the term ”nuisance.”
Su-hyeun's curiosity was piqued just a little at that. Nonetheless, he also got an ominous foreboding. Maybe investing one year of his time staying in the Hell of Scorching Heat and restoring it might have been a better deal for him.
Even so, he already had an agreement with King Yama. Su-hyeun certainly had no desire to lower his head and beg for the request to be changed.
”He said deep underground, didn't he?”
”Eut-cha!” Sun Wukong listened from the side, stood back up, then slammed Ruyi Jingu Bang on the ground. ”Planning to go down right away?”
”Yes, I must.”
Su-hyeun confirmed the status of his body that had been gradually recovering during the negotiation.
His fatigue level was now 39.
If it was only that much, moving his body around shouldn't pose too much of an issue. If he needed to fight right away, then he would certainly be able to.
”Well, in that case,” Sun Wukong smirked at Su-hyeun's reply, then muttered softly, ”Extend, Ruyi.”
Ka-booooom—!
* * *
Ruyi Jingu Bang extended rapidly.
It burrowed deep into the ground and continued to go lower and lower. Rather than descending underground, it would be more apt to call it breaking through the ground instead.
Dururuk, dudududu...
Su-hyeun, currently descending lower while grabbing tightly onto Ruyi Jingu Bang, used his free hand to prevent soil from getting in his eyes. How many kilometers had they traveled in this way? The scenery they had been searching for finally revealed itself.
Fwhoooosh—
Under the ground, somewhere really deep...
The place was even hotter than the inside of the lava. Su-hyeun was under the belief that he had managed to suck up most of the heat existing within the Hell of Scorching Heat, yet so much more still remained intact underground.
”It's going to get pretty stuffy in here, too,” he thought to himself.
Thankfully, the divine Flame's status improvement seemed to do the trick as it didn't feel all that hot in here.
However, he could still guess how hot it must be after taking in the sight of Sun Wukong next to him. The Monkey King was leaning helplessly against Ruyi Jingu Bang, his tongue hanging limply out of his mouth.
”Third Brother, are you going to be alright?”
”I thought I could breathe again, but man... This heat is killing me.”
Sun Wukong had also traveled down here with Ruyi Jingu Bang and, almost immediately, started sweating buckets from all the heat rising from the ground. There was even the sizzling noise of flesh on someone's feet being cooked as well.
As for the surrounding scenery, it didn't look that different from the surface above. A slight difference existed: Almost no natural light coming from the sky could reach this place. The lava here didn't flow freely like water. It simply oozed and drifted lazily among the various cracks in the terrain.
Splash—
When Su-hyeun stepped on the lava and stood still, he felt warmth from the bottom of his feet.
”What the hell?!”
Of course, Sun Wukong still found it way too hot, hurriedly leaped, and created a small cloud before plopping his butt on it.
Su-hyeun walked in the direction of the lava flow. The underground was structured similarly to a massive cavern system.
He didn't know just how long he had walked like this.
”Huh?”
”Those... seem to be trees.”
Something that shouldn't be here was growing tall in this place.
A tree that looked like it would burn to cinders not from the lava emitting such intense heat but from some lonely torch was growing wildly down here. It wasn't just one tree, either.
”A forest?” Su-hyeun thought.
It was a forest consisting of trees that were burning vigorously in flames.
Su-hyeun stared dazedly at this forest for a while.
* * *
The half-transparent image reflected on the lake's surface finally disappeared.
Master Subhuti, who had been leisurely watching the image, slowly got up from his spot, ”It seems they have arrived.”
”You're not going to watch anymore?” Buddha asked while observing Subhuti stand up.
The latter had been watching Su-hyeun and Sun Wukong nonstop for the past several days, but to think that he would stand up immediately just because they couldn't be seen anymore?
That seemed too abrupt of a change in one's attitude.
”Not only can we not continue watching them, but a guest has arrived, master.”
”Yes, it seems you're right,” Buddha also got up from his spot.
Around the same time, the sky above them turned dark, and the surrounding temperature became stiflingly hot.
”Welcome, Yama.”
RUMBLE—!