Pick One of the Two
"Y-you're joking, right?"
Dangrang's body trembled in fine, rapid shivers. Give him the Inner Core? There was no mistaking what that meant. There was only one way to surrender an Inner Core.
"G-Great Sage Sun?"
Dangrang looked at Sun Wukong with trembling eyes. The Great Sage was still smiling — that same hearty, easygoing grin that usually put people at ease. To Dangrang, it was horrifyingly, bone-chillingly wrong.
"W-why aren't you saying anything, Great Sage?"
A thread of unease hung naked in the air. Sun Wukong's grin widened.
"I'm kidding. Just kidding."
"It is a joke, right?"
"..."
"I-it is a joke, isn't it?"
Sun Wukong looked away. Dangrang instinctively scrambled backward, because in the Great Sage's averted gaze he had caught a flicker of genuine regret.
"Tsk. Shame, but what can you do. A guy my age can't go around being a glutton like Bajie."
"...Why were you after my Inner Core all of a sudden?"
"Felt greedy for the first time in a while."
Sun Wukong snorted a laugh and shook his head.
"Greed. Funny word, isn't it. I'm starting to get why Sanzang and those other bodhisattvas kept going on about cultivating even after they became Buddhas."
Just moments ago, Sun Wukong had seen a new world.
The eighth consciousness — the storehouse of all experience. Beyond the six senses, every sensation buried in the deepest layers of being could be felt and shared as one.
Back when he'd been taught about it, he'd let it go in one ear and out the other. Something that existed, supposedly. Whatever.
This body's having a hard time holding it together.
The moment he pushed his senses any further, the Yoryeok that had been lying quiet in his dantian stirred, as if it thought its territory was under threat. He tried to rein it in, but he'd been so focused on the Yeongryeok in his upper dantian — lost in something like the State of Selflessness — that it was nearly impossible. One wrong move and the two forces would collide inside him. He cut it off at once.
The pain was vicious. Sun Wukong pressed his fingers hard against his temples.
"Ah. Reminds me of the Golden Tightening Fillet."
It was the same sensation, the same agony — as if the Golden Tightening Fillet were cinching down around his skull.
Too many voices at once, maybe?
Mt. Wudang was overflowing with every living thing nature had to offer. The instant his eyes had opened, every voice had come rushing in. Senseless mutterings, all of them, but hundreds — thousands — pouring in at once. Even the Great Sage, Equal to Heaven, had barely been able to stand it.
And that was with nothing but Myodu-eung's Yeongryeok.
If he added Dangrang's Inner Core on top of that? Dangrang was a far more ancient Earth Deity than Myodu-eung. But Sun Wukong had already let the greed go.
"Too much greed always ends in disaster. That's just how it is."
Perhaps Dangrang heard the release in his voice. He nodded, cautiously.
"Aye, that's the truth of it. Excess greed always invites calamity."
Dangrang let out a breath of relief. He could hear it clearly now — the clean, decisive note of someone who had truly let go.
"Yeah. Greed."
The moment he'd used up all of Myodu-eung's Yeongryeok, the Yoryeok that had been lying dormant had surged up, wild and violent. And if Dangrang's Inner Core got mixed into that?
Too much. That's just greed talking.
The Yoryeok would move in ways even he couldn't control. Sun Wukong's eyes grew dark and heavy. Buried in the memories he wanted to forget was a time he had lost control of his Yoryeok, swept up in it, and shown his true ferocity. And the one who'd been on the receiving end —
Sanzang.
Sun Wukong turned his awareness inward, studying his own body, and understood once more.
Not being able to use the power of Heaven means I'm always carrying a risk.
Even he couldn't say with certainty that he could control himself completely. He realized he needed to dig far deeper into the method martial artists used — controlling Yoryeok through the dantian.
If I go berserk, there's nothing that can stop me.
Back then, there had been only one thing that could hold him. The Golden Tightening Fillet.
"No."
Sun Wukong shook his head. It wasn't the fillet that had controlled him. Pain like his skull splitting open? What was a little thing like that to the Great Sage, Equal to Heaven? He could endure it just fine. What controlled Sun Wukong was never something as paltry as a golden circlet.
Sanzang...
Only Sanzang — that frail, insignificant body — had ever been able to do it. Sun Wukong pushed the faint, rising memories aside.
Muyoung and Seowol. One of them is Sanzang. Has to be.
There was always the other possibility — that it was neither of them. But that was vanishingly unlikely. Sun Wukong always sought the most efficient path, the highest-probability play.
Muyoung and Seowol are both nearby, so...
He already had Sanzang's body close at hand.
Which means I need to find the soul before the flesh starts to rot.
He had to find Sanzang's spirit as quickly as possible. Even he couldn't guess when the body would begin to break down.
If I can just get my hands on Honghaea, U-mawang will come crawling out.
The man doted on that son of his to a sickening degree.
"I need to dig into those people. The daoists who made contact with Honghaea."
"You think that'll be easy?"
"Nothing hard about it."
"These are men with serious influence — both in the mortal world and inside the Wudang Sect itself."
"Hey, Dangrang."
The note of concern in the old god's voice made Sun Wukong cackle.
"Guess a lot of time really has passed."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Dangrang, worrying about me."
"Ahem. W-worry? Do I look like an Earth Deity with that much free time on his hands?"
"That's the most useless worry there is."
"Well..."
Dangrang started to say something, then just snorted a laugh. Fair enough. Who in their right mind would worry about the golden monkey who once turned Heaven itself upside down? Dangrang had only one wish.
"I won't raise too much hell."
"...That sounds like foreshadowing. I've grown quite attached to this land. To the humans who live here, even."
"I'll try."
Dangrang's eyes went wide.
"Well now. So the Great Sage really did become a Buddha. You'll try, he says."
It wasn't sarcasm. His face was purely, genuinely astonished. Sun Wukong cackled.
"Looks like you've gotten pretty attached to this place. And I'm not as reckless as I used to be, you know."
"Attached... well, I suppose I would be. Do you know how long I've been here? That Jang Sambong those daoists all revere — he was my one and only disciple."
"Your disciple?"
"The boy had a remarkable grasp of the Dao. More than that — he was human, and he still had the spiritual sight to recognize me for what I was."
"Huh... that's a hell of a talent."
"So I taught him the sword. And that became the Wudang Sect's Taiji Sword of Wisdom."
"That's Wudang's ultimate technique?"
"It is. Jang Sambong was an extraordinary child. There came a point when he surpassed even my abilities — and he was still human."
"In a human body?"
"That's why he ascended, isn't it? Have you seen him up in Heaven?"
"Never talked to him, but Taesangnogun keeps him around."
Dangrang's eyes flew wide. Joy flooded his gaze — the look of a man who'd just heard his own kin had made it big.
"Well, most newly ascended types get stuck in the lowest ranks. Meanwhile that kid's attending on the great Taesangnogun himself. Yeah, Jang Sambong was something else, I'll give him that."
Dangrang closed his mouth.
And you, the monkey who treats that same Taesangnogun like a neighborhood drinking buddy... what even are you...
Sun Wukong had praised Jang Sambong with one hand and quietly elevated himself with the other. Dangrang could only smile, bitter and wry. Watching that bitter smile, Sun Wukong understood why Dangrang had hesitated.
"You used to say you didn't interfere in the mortal world. You've gone soft, Dangrang."
Dangrang smiled bitterly.
"Live long enough, and even an old man like me gets lonely."
If Dangrang's martial teachings had been passed down through Jang Sambong...
"Yeah. They'd all look like disciples to you."
The way a grandfather looks at his grandchildren, perhaps. He wasn't just the Earth Deity who guarded Mt. Wudang. He had become the guardian spirit of the Wudang Sect itself. Sun Wukong could see now why Wudang had flourished, why it had become one of the two great pillars of the Nine Sects.
Sun Wukong's eyes narrowed.
"So Jang Sambong, the founder of Wudang, was your disciple."
"That's right."
"And the sword you taught him became the Taiji Sword of Wisdom."
"He took what I taught him and transformed it, reinvented it as his own."
"Good."
"What's good?"
Sun Wukong looked at him, eyes bright with mischief.
"I already got one thing out of you. Might as well throw in a bonus, right?"
"What are you talking about?"
"Giving just one thing is stingy. You've gotta add a little extra."
Unease flickered across Dangrang's face. That smile. The sly, mischievous glint mixed into it was more than the old god could handle.
"Pick what...?"
"...!"
Sun Wukong grinned.
"Or teach me the sword."
"He's not the type to go this long without a word."
A small crack formed in Muhwa's expression.
"Seven days and nights have passed."
Seven nights, seven days. Sun Wukong had not shown himself. He wasn't someone who vanished without reason. The moment Sun Wukong had stepped forward, the path they'd been wandering had opened as if by magic.
He knows something.
The question nagged at Muhwa. It was a strange affair that even the Wudang Ten Swords hadn't understood. And yet Sun Wukong had left as if he already had some idea.
"Where on earth is he, and what is he doing?"
He was sighing, grumbling to himself, when the door slid open. There was only one person who would walk into the room of Muhwa — honored guest of the Wudang Sect and envoy of the Namgung Clan — without so much as a word.
"Seowol."
Seowol swept the room with a glance the moment he entered, and the corners of his eyes lifted, just slightly. Muhwa couldn't help a small laugh. The boy who always wore that blank, indifferent face had started, little by little, to show actual expressions.
"What's going on?"
"He still hasn't come back?"
"Ah... no. The Butterfly Immortal went out with the Wudang disciples to look for him, but there's still no word."
Ever since arriving at the Wudang Sect, Muhwa had been waiting for Sun Wukong. The Wudang side had been in an uproar too — specifically Ak Biun and the Butterfly Immortal. The one person they absolutely needed to bring in hadn't shown so much as the tip of his nose.
The internal conflict was worse than I thought.
The Butterfly Immortal's faction was relatively well-disposed toward Sun Wukong. But there was another faction that found Sun Wukong's party deeply unsettling.
They expressed gratitude for us saving the direct disciples and resolving the Wudang Blood Incident, but there was something wary in their eyes.
As if they wanted the visitors gone from Wudang as soon as possible. Even with the Wudang Sect split like this, Muhwa couldn't focus on it. He needed Sun Wukong first. That was the key.
Seowol seemed to share the thought. His voice was firm.
"Let's look for him too."
"Huh?"
"Let's find Master."
Muhwa hesitated. No sect welcomed outsiders wandering freely through their grounds, and the more prestigious the sect, the stronger that tendency. That was the real reason Muhwa hadn't gone looking for Sun Wukong himself — though he'd been busy, too.
Seowol pressed him as he wavered.
"We can search with the Wudang people."
Well, the Butterfly Immortal and Ak Biun were already out looking. Muhwa never once imagined that something might have happened to Sun Wukong. There was no one in the Wudang Sect who could bring down a man of that caliber. Save for one. The Wudang Sect Leader, known by the title One-Circle Wisdom Sword.
But the martial world was vast, and the unexpected was always waiting. A sliver of unease crept into Muhwa. What if something had happened?
"All right. We can't just sit here waiting forever."
Ak Biun had already gone out, and so had the Butterfly Immortal — the one who had invited Sun Wukong to Wudang in the first place. Muhwa and the Butterfly Immortal, both at the extreme peak of the Peak Realm. Seowol and Ak Biun, both at a mature stage of the Peak Realm. And they weren't alone.
"There's no one who could harm Teacher Sun. He likely has some personal matter to attend to."
The Namgung Clan's finest strike force, the Blue Sky Corps. And Namgung Do, the Blue Sky Great Captain, who had escorted the Butterfly Immortal and Geumgak to Mt. Wudang ahead of the others.
The mountain range of Mt. Wudang was truly vast. Ridge after ridge rolled on like waves, still full of untrodden land where no human foot had ever fallen. They searched for Sun Wukong for a full day.
"...!"
In a single instant, every gaze snapped toward the same point. A violent surge of energy made their skin prickle and thrum. As if they had rehearsed it, they all launched into the air at once.
"This direction is...?"
"Isn't that where the Wudang Sect's sacred ground is?"
The Wudang martial artists burst into agitated murmurs. Their faces went rigid. They folded the mountain beneath them, racing across the distance, and arrived to find —
"Teacher Sun?"
Muhwa cried out in delight at the sight of those golden waves, shimmering as if light itself had been woven through them. But only for a moment. Then they saw the surroundings, and every face went stiff.
It was a wreck. A massive crater, gouged deep as if a colossal meteor had struck. And in front of it, Sun Wukong slowly turned around. A hint of fatigue on his face, and that same playful grin that never changed.
Sun Wukong said it as if he were faintly embarrassed.