Namgung Clan’s Great Sage, Heaven’s Equal

1. Maybe I Should Just Burn It All

Sometimes, he felt a strange sense of longing.

Was it really longing? Sun Wukong could never quite understand his own feelings.

The journey had been grueling and exhausting. On the way to Tianzhu to retrieve the scriptures, he got caught up in all sorts of incidents and suffered endlessly. The memories still made his skin crawl.

Yet, sometimes, those days would come back to him in a bittersweet haze.

The past. The time he was imprisoned under Five Elements Mountain.

Tripitaka's pale face, reaching out a hand to him.

White Dragon, silently carrying Tripitaka for thousands of miles.

Bajie, always causing trouble, always boasting, but somehow not so bad to be around.

Wujing, loyal and reliable, though sometimes a bit annoying.

And Sun Wukong himself, who still couldn't always hide the violent urges burning deep inside, sometimes baring his fangs at Tripitaka.

—Wukong, Wukong. Perhaps our meeting was arranged by the Buddha himself. Don't bear all the world's suffering alone; share it with your master.

Master, huh.

He did call Tripitaka his master, but it was all just an act to have his sins forgiven.

How could he accept such a foolish, weepy, stubborn monk as his teacher?

But only when they reached Tianzhu and retrieved the scriptures did Sun Wukong realize the fiery rage he'd always carried had faded.

Still, not a master.

He never admitted it. How could that foolish crybaby be his teacher?

—Every connection is a teacher, a friend, a companion. Wukong, you and I have been teachers to each other, close friends, and companions on the journey.

Sun Wukong nodded slowly at the voice echoing in his mind.

Once, he hated that voice, especially when it recited the spell that tightened the Golden Headband.

But yes, a friend.

Tripitaka, you are my dearest friend. Not a master, though. Somehow, calling you master just feels beneath me, doesn't it? I am the Great Sage, after all.

—Yes, friend. Guanyin Bodhisattva wanted you by my side to give me a true friend.

Tripitaka...

—Now that we're friends, Wukong, as your friend, I ask you: stop hating the world.

Tripitaka smiled kindly. Sun Wukong smiled faintly in return.

"...Huh?"

...Wait, why do I need to stop hating the world?

That wasn't Tripitaka's voice.

The image of Tripitaka's smile faded. A dazzling light poured down. Beyond the sunlight breaking through the green leaves, two humans stared at him.

One with narrow, triangular eyes. The other, a big guy with a scruffy beard.

Who are these guys?

"Boss, this guy's smiling."

This guy?

Sun Wukong couldn't make sense of the situation.

Let's see... He'd tried to run from Guanyin Bodhisattva's request—which was basically an order—and hid in the Jade Emperor's storeroom.

Right, and then, feeling stuffy, he drank some of the wine there...

"Leave him. Maybe he's having a nice dream."

The bearded man tapped Sun Wukong on the head.

Aha! These guys must be the divine generals Guanyin Bodhisattva sent!

Trying to catch me again, sending these lackeys while I was passed out drunk? And tying me up so tight!

Sun Wukong smirked.

"Hey, he's smiling again."

"What's with this guy? Got a hole in your lung or something? Why are you grinning?"

Sun Wukong instinctively glared. These punks—how dare they look down on the Supreme Immortal of Primal Chaos himself?

"Where's Lord Erlang? You send idiots like you to catch me?"

At the very least, it should take someone like Lord Erlang to catch him.

"Lord Erlang? Hey, Triangles, who's that?"

"Uh, I think I've heard of him. Some kind of god, maybe?"

"A god? Like a Buddha? Or the Jade Emperor?"

They just laughed.

Only then did Sun Wukong look around again. Green trees. A beautiful forest, but not the celestial kind. And those two—Narrow-Eyed and Beardy—staring at him.

...Bandits?

Definitely bandits. Just like the ones who used to attack him on the road to Tianzhu.

"Why are there bandits here?"

This is Sun Wukong, who could see for thousands of miles and hear a fly's wings from leagues away.

No matter what happened, he never lost his cool, always quick to assess and adapt.

But right now, he was flustered.

Not divine generals, but weird bandits? There are no bandits in the Heavenly Realm!

The two bandits burst out laughing at his reaction.

"Wow, we really caught a weirdo."

"Seriously, boss. Found some golden-haired, golden-eyed foreigner passed out drunk in the woods, and now he's acting all strange!"

Now Sun Wukong started to piece things together.

He'd fallen asleep after drinking in the storeroom.

And now, a forest.

Definitely not a celestial forest. Not with these bandits.

Which means...

'Guanyin Bodhisattva, are you insane?'

She'd just tossed him into the Mortal World while he was passed out drunk.

Sun Wukong could feel his anger boiling.

"Hey, forget Lord Erlang—our boss here is the Yaksha of Hayeon Mountain, the tiger-slaying Hayeon Yaksha himself!"

"Hahaha, that's enough. The kid might wet himself. If he stinks, the Namsaek Family won't want him. You know how picky they are. Gotta keep him clean to sell him for a good price."

What? Namsaek Family?

"Huh?"

When you're too dumbfounded, you can't even get angry—you just laugh.

Sell me to the Namsaek Family? Me? The Great Sage Equal to Heaven?

"What, you scared now?"

"Don't worry. The Gui family treats their goods well."

"Hey, you."

"Hey? Tsk. You look young, but your mouth sure is rude."

Narrow-Eyed grinned. Sun Wukong sighed. What a disgrace for the Great Sage to be in the hands of lowly bandits.

Normally, he'd ignore such trash, but his patience was wearing thin.

Just then, Narrow-Eyed suddenly swung his hand at the back of Sun Wukong's head.

'Wow. The Great Sage has really fallen. A bandit dares to lay a hand on me?'

Sun Wukong's eyes tracked the movement. Every detail slowed down—the muscles, the swing, the air, the speed.

Everything broke down into tiny pieces, calculated in his mind...

...Forget it.

'It's not like I'm fighting the Bull Demon King.'

Crack!

"Huh?"

Narrow-Eyed's wrist was caught in Sun Wukong's grip.

"Wait, when did you get out of those ropes?"

"You couldn't trap me with the Eight Trigrams Path, and you thought some straw rope would do the trick?"

Crunch, crack!

Narrow-Eyed's mouth opened in a silent scream. His eyes rolled back, foam bubbling at his lips.

Twitch, twitch.

"Passing out just from a broken wrist? What a wimp. Hey, are you faking?"

"T-Triangles!"

"Well, well?"

Beardy charged in, furious.

"Raaah!"

He was much faster than Narrow-Eyed, surprisingly quick for his size. Not that it impressed Sun Wukong.

He casually grabbed the man's wrist.

'Huh?'

...What?

The man's attack pattern suddenly changed.

His movements, which Sun Wukong had been calculating, shifted.

Something overwhelming, impossible for a human, made his punch unnaturally fast for a moment.

It was almost like...

'Demonic power?'

It felt like the mysterious power demons used. But different. None of that foul, sinister aura.

'How can a human use that kind of power?'

The absurdity of a human wielding demonic power made Sun Wukong lose his grip for a split second.

A precise, clean blow landed on his head.

BANG!

"AAAAAARGH!"

A metallic clang rang out, and Beardy collapsed, clutching his wrist and rolling on the ground.

"My head... it's a rock... a rock head..."

Sun Wukong sighed.

"Man. How embarrassing would this be if anyone saw?"

To think he'd let a nobody hit him in the head. How humiliating.

"You two need some lessons from the Great Sage."

"S-spare me..."

"Sure, I'll spare you."

---

"Let me get this straight. You cultivated Internal Qi and learned martial arts?"

"Y-yes, that's right. I was once an outside disciple of Shaolin, trained in proper martial arts."

"Shaolin disciple, my foot. This is humiliating."

Sun Wukong twisted his golden hair in frustration.

This is so embarrassing.

Not even a divine general, but some lowly bandit managed to land a hit.

Well, he was a bit surprised by the human's 'internal energy,' which was apparently much more formidable than in the past.

'So the separation between the Mortal World and Heavenly Realm really does restrict my power.'

More than anything, he could instinctively feel that much of his power was sealed.

Only someone like Sun Wukong could fully incarnate; even generals and gods of the Heavenly Realm could barely appear in dreams of shamanic priests.

'Still, I could handle an upper-class demon easily, and even a Great Demon... well, depends who.'

He analyzed the situation coolly. Great Demons varied widely in strength. Sun Wukong was a Great Demon, so was the Bull Demon King, but the gap between them and the rest was enormous.

Even the weakest Great Demon required at least an immortal to defeat.

"There are humans who could ascend to immortality just by swinging a sword, right?"

Those rare humans were probably the strongest in the Mortal World now.

With most of his power sealed, they'd be opponents to watch out for.

'Imagine—the Great Sage Equal to Heaven having to be careful around some wannabe immortals.'

He ground his teeth in frustration.

Still, Sun Wukong wasn't too bothered.

Out of all these humans, how many would he actually meet? Not scary, just annoying. Like mosquitoes—irritating, not frightening.

But it was interesting.

"Are there many humans like you, who cultivate Internal Qi?"

"Any man living in the Murim world would have Internal Qi and martial arts."

"And where do you rank among them? Judging by your bandit status, not very high, I'd guess."

"You underestimate me. I was once infamous in the Murim world..."

"Infamous?"

Sun Wukong's eyes narrowed, scanning him up and down. Beardy bristled.

"I made a name for myself in the Murim world."

"Good for you."

And now you're a shabby bandit.

He called himself a boss, but his only follower was Narrow-Eyed. Sun Wukong sighed and stood up.

At this point, he had no choice but to follow Guanyin Bodhisattva's request.

Now, where did she say to go?

"Ah, Namgung Clan."

"What? Namgung Clan?"

"You know where it is?"

"Of course! The Number One Sword Family Under Heaven. They're famous."

"Which way?"

"We're in the middle of Hubei, so head east."

East, huh. Sun Wukong thought for a moment. Finding Tripitaka would be quick. But there was something else he needed to do first.

"Which way is Mount Potalaka?"

"Mount Potalaka? That's across the eastern sea."

"Hehehe, right."

Guanyin Bodhisattva, you made a big mistake.

You threw me into the Mortal World without even putting on the Golden Headband?

And your relics are at Mount Potalaka, right?

I'll burn them all.

"Which is farther, Mount Potalaka or the Namgung Clan?"

"Mount Potalaka is much farther. It'd take a month on horseback, plus a boat ride..."

"A month? The Great Sage can get there before a cup of tea gets cold."

"..."

Beardy and Narrow-Eyed both squinted at him.

Sun Wukong just smirked. They wouldn't believe it unless they saw it with their own eyes.

"Whew..."

He pointed his finger at the sky, took a deep breath, and shouted with all his might:

"Come! Nimbus Cloud!"

Nim...bus...Cloud...Nim...bus...Cloud...

Uh...?

"Nimbus Cloud!"

Nim...bus...Cloud...

"......"

"......"

...Uh, why isn't it coming?

A bead of cold sweat rolled down Sun Wukong's forehead.