Dangrang
Seowol was the first to notice something was off.
She had always carried an air of artless innocence. Even now, having come of age, she still often showed a girlish freshness — but the thorns hidden beneath that softness were razor-sharp.
Muhwa's face had gone rigid as well.
"This feels like... we're going in circles on the same path, doesn't it?"
"Yeah. We're lost, Unnie."
Muhwa looked straight at Gwangso.
This was the road that led to the Wudang Sect in the mountains. Unless someone meant for it to happen, there was no earthly reason they should lose the trail. But the look on Gwangso's face only deepened Muhwa's confusion.
...That's odd.
Gwangso's expression had hardened too. A faint bewilderment stirred in his eyes — which meant this was not intentional. And if they had deliberately led everyone astray, Ak Biun's party following behind would never have stayed quiet.
"What in the world..."
Unable to swallow his unease any longer, Ak Biun let out a groan. He scanned the surroundings and spoke in a rush.
"Senior Brother Gwangso, what is going on here?"
"I don't know either."
No small amount of alarm colored both their voices.
"They just got lost in their own backyard?"
Seowol's artless transmission left Muhwa with nothing to say.
It was common knowledge that the terrain of Mt. Wudang was treacherous, its ranges so vast that stretches of it remained untrodden to this day. But this was a path even ordinary commoners climbed to burn incense. Gwangso and Ak Biun could not simply lose their way.
"Unnie. This feels like that time."
"That time?"
Muhwa's eyes went wide. She understood at once.
Changryong Chulgwan!
There was no trace of a Qimen formation anywhere — no telltale mark, no signature. Even circulating her inner energy and sharpening her sight, she felt no flow at all. Her senses whispered that this was something else entirely.
"It's like when we did Changryong Chulgwan on Waryong Mountain."
The only difference was the absence of fog blocking their vision. A powerful sense of déjà vu seeped through Muhwa's entire body, and she quickly looked at Sun Wukong.
He did not seem particularly bothered by the commotion around them, as if his attention were somewhere else entirely. She remembered how he had been surveying their surroundings from the moment they started the climb.
Back then on Waryong Mountain, Teacher Sun handled that himself too.
Perhaps he felt her gaze. Sun Wukong looked at her.
"Don't worry. It's just warning us that this is its territory."
"A warning?"
Muhwa found that hard to understand. Wudang martial artists were standing right here. This was Wudang territory — who would dare claim it as their own and issue a warning?
The corner of Sun Wukong's mouth lifted faintly.
"I could feel it somewhere, but it wouldn't show itself. Now it's finally starting to come out."
"What on earth does that—"
Unfortunately for the bewildered Muhwa, Sun Wukong was not the type to kindly explain every word.
"It's a nasty little prankster. Don't pay it much mind."
Sun Wukong suddenly drew out his steel staff with a whoosh. He had merely gripped it and pulled it free — and the atmosphere around them shifted in an instant.
As if waking from a daze, the entire party gave a collective shudder. Only then did the faint, muffled sensation in their ears vanish. The martial artists stared at Sun Wukong with startled eyes.
"What was that..."
"An aura? Was that an aura?"
"No — if it were an aura, I didn't feel a thing."
Gwangso and Ak Biun muttered with wide eyes, as if they had forgotten they had been glaring at each other moments before. They had every reason to. Until Sun Wukong gripped his staff and cleared the air, they had not sensed a thing.
Sun Wukong nodded as if that were only natural.
"Because it isn't a human's aura."
"What?"
"You all go on ahead. I've got business."
Sun Wukong suddenly leaped lightly into the air.
BOOM!
For such a light movement, what followed was terrifying.
"What in the—!"
Gwangso's eyes flew open as if they might tear. A single leap, and Sun Wukong had vanished from sight. They all stared, stunned, at the figure receding into the far distance.
Watching the shock bloom across their faces, Muhwa let out a sigh.
"Where on earth is he going this time..."
She wasn't worried. Just...
"He has too many secrets."
She felt a little left out.
Having leaped through space in a single bound, Sun Wukong surveyed his surroundings with lowered eyes.
It was silent. An unsettling quiet. No insects, no water, no wind.
The corner of Sun Wukong's mouth lifted faintly.
The intense sense of wrongness he had felt from the moment they began climbing Mt. Wudang was invisible, yet it had a definite form. It pricked at his skin like a sharp blade. He knew exactly what it was. He had felt it before.
Waryong Mountain. Myodu-eung's Yeongryeok.
Sun Wukong's eyes gleamed.
Yeongryeok was anathema to demons. The moment he started climbing Mt. Wudang, he had felt it. Of course he had — what living creature would fail to notice a sensation like needles against its skin?
From Mt. Wudang onward, the atmosphere had changed completely. A quality of presence that humans could not perceive even a grain of. It was no accident that countless Taoists had settled on this mountain.
To martial artists and Taoists, it would feel like nothing more than abundant natural energy. But that was merely a fraction of what flowed from this immense Yeongryeok. Even that fraction made Sun Wukong's skin tingle.
Stronger than the clouds and mist the previous Myodu-eung created on Waryong Mountain.
Myodu-eung had merely claimed Waryong Mountain as its domain. This Earth Deity, by contrast, held Mt. Wudang and its vast ranges as its territory.
The corner of Sun Wukong's mouth climbed even higher. He continued scanning his surroundings, letting his aura leak out — just barely. Something that would make any Earth Deity jump out of its skin. A relic of a vague past: the demonic energy of a great demon, the kind one would only encounter in the age of demons.
A reaction came from the other side at once.
Just as the previous Myodu-eung had done during Changryong Chulgwan, it disrupted the senses with Yeongryeok. A warning, carrying the implication that they should come no deeper into Mt. Wudang. Its power was formidable. Renowned martial artists — even Wudang disciples who had lived their entire lives on this mountain — had lost their way. If this had been an ordinary demon, it would never have dared oppose such an Earth Deity. It would have fled.
A chilling voice slipped from Sun Wukong's lips as he surveyed the area.
"How about you show yourself already? How long are you planning to hide?"
The smile at his lips grew deeper, as if he could no longer hold it in — as if he were enjoying himself.
"I know you're nearby, but I can't quite pin you down. You're no ordinary one, are you?"
Sun Wukong sifted through his memories. An Earth Deity with Yeongryeok like this, one that even his senses could not easily lock onto. There were not many such Earth Deities in the world. Not even in the past.
Kunlun's phoenix wouldn't be here. Neither would those turtle and whale bastards from the Southern Sea. Not the jungle crocodile either... Old Yellow, maybe? No. If it were him, he'd have shown himself already.
Countless Earth Deities flickered through his mind. Then, in that moment, Sun Wukong spoke a name that rose with perfect clarity.
The instant he called that name, a wind stirred.
Shaaaaah.
Sun Wukong looked at a flower standing perfectly upright, unmoved by the wind. More precisely, at the small figure perched atop it.
A body of green light. Sharp forelegs. Two long strands hanging like a beard. The praying mantis opened its mouth, eyes wary.
"Heh heh heh. Just who are you supposed to be?"
Dangrang.
A faint gladness surfaced on Sun Wukong's face.
"It's been a while, Dangrang."
True to his name, Dangrang was a praying mantis mountain god — and he remained in Sun Wukong's memory as a powerful Earth Deity. A vague past. How could he forget the face he had seen then?
But Dangrang did not recognize him. No — more precisely, he looked as though he could not believe it.
"It's been eons since the demons vanished from this world. How can a demon have already appeared twice?"
Dangrang muttered as if he could not understand. Unlike Myodu-eung, who had spoken through the mind, this was a physical voice. He stroked the two long strands hanging like a beard with one sharp foreleg, the way an old man idly strokes his whiskers.
But Sun Wukong paid no attention to Dangrang's manner. A single word had lodged in his ear.
"Appeared twice?"
Dangrang did not answer kindly. He raised both forelegs high.
The mantis that bars the chariot. A fool standing against the wheels of a cart. But no one looking at this scene would call it that. Though he had merely lifted his arms, though his frame was so small, an indescribable presence poured forth.
"In the past, only one demon ever dared invade this Dangrang's territory. Even that one couldn't stand against me and was driven off. You've got some nerve, you."
Hearing that, Sun Wukong snorted a laugh.
"Let's get the facts straight. When did I ever fail to stand against you and get driven off?"
"...!"
Shock flickered across Dangrang's face. His pupils filled with disbelief. The one demon he had spoken of—
"...Lord Great Sage Sun?"
"It's been a while, Dangrang."
"That can't be."
Dangrang staggered back, his face in turmoil. Sun Wukong tilted his head. If anything, the wariness on Dangrang's face had grown even sharper.
To be honest, Sun Wukong did not have the best relationship with Earth Deities. On the pilgrimage, he had made a habit of beating them with the Ruyi Jingu Bang and putting them to work. It was so bad that whenever word spread that Sun Wukong was coming, Earth Deities across the region would abandon their territories and flee.
But among the many Earth Deities, Dangrang had been relatively close with him. Dignified and gentle by nature, Dangrang had treated even Sun Wukong's arrogant attitude with warmth. He was also a divine being who had lived even longer than Sun Wukong — and hadn't Sun Wukong, after meeting Sanzang, come to understand the value of respecting one's elders?
So he had been genuinely glad to see him...
"That absurd nonsense! Lord Great Sage Sun attained Buddhahood and became the Victorious Fighting Buddha!"
"Ah, about that..."
"You wicked demon! You dare impersonate a Buddha of the Heavenly Realm? How can one who has already become a Buddha appear before me as a demon?!"
Dangrang roared. The trees around them shook violently.
Sun Wukong smiled bitterly. A Buddha who had become a demon again and shown up — how could anyone believe that?
"I see. There was a fake Sun Wukong who caused a huge ruckus in the past. So that's who you are!"
"Ah. The fake Sun Wukong."
Sun Wukong smiled faintly, almost wistfully. Looking back now, it had been an amusing memory.
"Dangrang, I'm a little disappointed you'd mistake me for that guy."
"This fake Sun Wukong has survived all this time just to insult this Dangrang!"
Sun Wukong let out a sigh.
Right. Dangrang was always like this.
A true ancient monster, one who had lived even longer than Sun Wukong. He could appear wise and gentle, like an old man. And at the same time...
"In my day, the likes of you wouldn't have dared show your face before me. Tsk tsk. What a brazen, foolish creature. Kids these days, I swear."
He was hopelessly set in his ways.