And If It Doesn't?
"Are you really going to leave things like this?"
The voice carried a note of genuine regret. The feeling that sat uninvited on his face, however, was something else entirely.
"Fix your face before you talk. I can see you want me gone so badly it's written all over you."
"Ahem."
Dangrang cleared his throat and looked away.
Geumgak, standing beside him, let out a dry laugh.
"Teacher Sun, you can actually read expressions on that face? It's barely bigger than a rat dropping."
"Is there anything the Fiery Golden Eyes cannot see?"
"Well, damn. That's one hell of a cheat ability. Heavenly restrictions or whatever — how is that even allowed to work?"
It was a curious gathering. One human, one demon, one Earth Deity. The three of them had clustered here for no other reason than that Sun Wukong had called them.
"Did the Great Sage arrange this meeting just to tell us he's leaving?"
"I've got a few things to ask of you, too."
"And you're certain you can simply walk away? This business isn't finished."
The business Dangrang meant was one thing only.
As an Earth Deity who did not interfere in the mortal world, Dangrang never involved himself in whatever unfolded within the Wudang Sect. But the true culprit behind everything that had happened this time—
"You're not planning to go after Honghaea?"
Honghaea's appearance was something even Dangrang could not ignore. This was no mere variable that might violate the laws of the world. Honghaea himself was the variable.
According to the laws and providence of reincarnation, no being may retain the memories of a past life. A fleeting glimpse in a dream, a flicker at the edge of the unconscious — that much might be permitted. But to live a new cycle while holding every memory of the life before... that is not reincarnation. That is simply the same existence, stretched on.
As an Earth Deity and mountain god charged with upholding the world's laws, Dangrang was obligated to punish him.
"That creature has fully awakened to his past life. He may wear a human body, but he's a demon in all but name. The Samadhi True Fire he wields — you think that's a human art?"
A being who has recovered every memory of his demonic past, who wields those same powers, who thinks of himself as a demon...
Reincarnation means living a new life according to the karma of the last. But if a past life doesn't merely influence the present — if the old self all but devours the new one...
"Demons who have let their past lives consume the present, who have stripped reincarnation of all meaning — they have no place in this world."
That was why Dangrang watched Honghaea's movements with an interest every bit as keen as Sun Wukong's.
Sun Wukong clicked his tongue.
"The brat's got a temper like wildfire, sure. But he's not stupid."
"True enough. He always was a cunning little thing. When he couldn't beat Teacher Sun, he went running straight to U-mawang, didn't he?"
"Exactly. Pride, dignity — none of that matters to him. He's not the type to fight to the death."
"Then the odds of him coming to Mt. Wudang are low."
After Baekgwiwang's death, the name of the Great Sage, Equal to Heaven had spread through the Wudang Sect. Honghaea would grasp the chain of cause and effect in an instant. If he set foot on Wudang, the Great Sage would be waiting for him with that monstrous staff in hand.
"Hmph. Then wasn't all of this pointless?"
It was a veiled rebuke — that cleaning up the Samcheong faction had made a great deal of noise for no real gain.
From Dangrang's perspective, Sun Wukong himself was a grave variable that violated causality. Had he not heard that Elder Changgeng, the most virtuous soul in all the Heavenly Realm, had personally persuaded him, and that Guanyin had stood as guarantor, Dangrang would have blocked Sun Wukong without a second thought.
Not that being able to stop him is remotely the same question as wanting to.
Dangrang looked at the red gleam in Sun Wukong's eyes and gave a bitter smile.
If he poured out every ounce of his power, could he keep Sun Wukong from entering Mt. Wudang? An Earth Deity's innate abilities already placed him at the level of a true immortal. And within his own domain, that power more than doubled.
And yet...
Dangrang remembered the past with perfect clarity.
Wukong had mellowed considerably. These days he didn't beat you with a staff just because you'd soured his mood. The Sun Wukong of old had been a monster of pure malice. His opening move with any Earth Deity was to beat them senseless. Once he'd crushed their spirit, he treated them like servants. The younger Earth Deities had no choice but to take the beating. Even the capable ones would abandon their own domains and flee at the mere rumor of his arrival.
Of course, there had been Earth Deities who could stand against him. Dangrang himself had been one of them. The result, however, had been... less than ideal.
If Sanzang hadn't chanted the Tightening Fillet Mantra, I'd have been beaten to a pulp that day.
He'd survived because Sanzang had intervened. As for the others...
That yellow mutt from Mount Song and that python bastard from Nanman got it especially bad.
Tch. If those two ever ran into Wukong again, they'd probably side with the demons just to spite him.
Dangrang banished the thought and looked at Sun Wukong.
"Pointless, you say... Well, if it is, so what?"
Sun Wukong couldn't have cared less.
Dangrang's eyes narrowed.
"You've got something in mind, haven't you?"
Sun Wukong looked reckless on the surface. He was anything but.
Cunning monkey.
It wasn't as though the gods were all fools who simply sat there and took it. Sun Wukong's martial power needed no introduction — but what the world at large never quite grasped was the sharpness of that monkey brain.
"This thing called the mind... sometimes you're better off not knowing."
"...?"
"There's a reason they say ignorance is bliss. The moment you become aware of something, it starts circling in your unconscious and never leaves."
Honghaea wouldn't come to Wudang. Not now.
"But he won't be able to sit still, either."
Sun Wukong grinned. It was such a mischievous grin that Dangrang sighed, already certain the monkey was cooking up some new scheme.
"Honghaea won't come to Mt. Wudang himself. But he doesn't know that. Keep a close watch, Dangrang."
"Guarding my domain against violations of causality is my duty. You needn't tell me."
"No. I want reports."
"Reports?"
"I want a full report of everything that happens. And if nothing happens, I still want a report, right on schedule."
Dangrang let out an incredulous laugh. Regular reports from an Earth Deity? The very idea.
"Do you honestly think that makes any sense?"
"..."
Dangrang's words died in his throat. Wukong was still smiling, but something in that smile had gone ice-cold.
This lunatic is threatening me with a smile on his face. Again.
Dangrang heaved a long sigh.
"Even if I wanted to report, how would I? The moment I leave Wudang, I'm nothing but a praying mantis."
"That's what Geumgak is for."
"Huh? Me? Why are you dragging me into this?"
Geumgak's face twisted.
"You'll report through Geumgak. To wherever I am."
"Now hold on—"
"Whether Honghaea or any other suspicious types come sniffing around — and even if they don't, I want to know everything that happens at Wudang. Regular reports. No exceptions."
"..."
He was talking to them like they were his subordinates. Dangrang's mandibles fell open. A praying mantis with its mouth hanging wide was a fairly ridiculous sight, but Sun Wukong didn't care what expression anyone wore. He simply kept talking.
"Keep an especially close eye on that Hocheong brat. He's keeping his head down because I'm here, but in his past life he was a first-rate con artist who played the sage and seized power. You think that kind of hunger just disappears?"
"Hah..."
Dangrang could only manage a hollow sound. He had no reply.
Geumgak cut in, looking thoroughly put-upon.
"Teacher Sun, you already ordered me to find the rest of the Seven Star Sword."
"Did I?"
"You did, and you know it."
"That was your job to begin with. What's your point?"
Geumgak's mouth snapped shut. He stared at Sun Wukong with wounded eyes.
"Taishang Laojun is the one who gave you that job. That's why you reincarnated into the mortal world in the first place. And you botched even that, which is how we ended up in this mess. And now you're going to sit there and act shameless about it?"
"Well, I mean..."
Geumgak couldn't finish. Not a word of what Sun Wukong had said was wrong. That didn't stop the injustice from flaring in his chest.
Even if I find the rest of the Seven Star Sword, I have to hand every last piece over to this monkey anyway.
He was hunting the Seven Star Sword for Sun Wukong's benefit, when you got right down to it.
"I killed Baekgwiwang, but the rest of them have gone to ground. I can't find a trace. They'll have the remaining fragments, and Hubei was their base of operations. The two of you work together and get it done. And if I catch you slacking off... well. I'm sure you can imagine."
Sun Wukong added the threat with a smile.
"..."
Four eyes went cold as they locked onto him.
Sun Wukong shrugged and made a show of stroking his iron staff.
"What're you gonna do? We've come this far..."
There was no reason to linger at the Wudang Sect any longer. Honghaea still hadn't made a move.
If anything, staying at Wudang makes me harder to approach.
Honghaea had already tasted Dangrang's power once and fled. He wasn't foolish enough to pick a straight fight with the Earth Deity of Mt. Wudang.
Not that Honghaea would go down easily, either.
The real problem was how conspicuous he was. As U-mawang's own son, Honghaea was extraordinary in a way that seemed determined to prove whose blood ran in his veins. One of those extraordinary qualities was that he had taken in the undying essence of the Flaming Mountain — a fire that burned in every season, never once going out — and from it awakened the art of Samadhi True Fire.
This was not the kind of flame a martial artist produced from the extreme of yang energy. This was Kalpa Fire, a world-ending flame that could burn anything in existence.
If Honghaea turned that Samadhi True Fire on Mt. Wudang and burned the mountain to ash — what then? The entire Wudang Sect would rise as one and come for him. And it wouldn't stop at Wudang. To attack the home mountain of the pillar of the Orthodox Path was to declare oneself a Wulin Public Enemy, plain and simple.
Honghaea's plan was to take Wudang quietly, through the Samcheong faction.
Looking back over the shadow organization's movements so far, a common thread was obvious. They had conducted every operation while keeping their true strength completely hidden.
They've judged that it's still too early to show themselves.
Whatever that something was they were waiting for. But Sun Wukong was certain of one thing: a tail once stepped on can never be fully tucked away again.
Honghaea would not strike Wudang openly. And quite apart from all of that, challenging an Earth Deity inside that Earth Deity's own domain was not something you attempted unless you were as reckless as Sun Wukong himself.
If anything, leaving the Wudang Sect makes me a much easier target.
Assuming they intended to come after him at all.
They'll make contact somehow.
It would be convenient if Honghaea came in person. Unfortunately, the odds of that were slim.
Types like him never do the dirty work themselves. They always send someone else. What a pain.
Sun Wukong wasn't particularly bothered. If someone else showed up, he'd grab them, wring them out, and dig until he hit the truth. He set his mind at ease.
The Wudang Sect had no problems left. Dangrang and Geumgak would report every last thing that happened there. Sun Wukong could sit wherever he pleased and receive Wudang's news as it came — including secrets so deep that even the Beggars' Guild and the Hao Clan could never reach them. Hold those in your hand, and handling the Wudang Sect became a simple matter. There was Hocheong, who would move as Sun Wukong directed. There was the Mugok Hall Master, who could not afford to ignore him. And there was the current Taecheong, who had somehow ended up treating Sun Wukong as his senior brother.
Without quite meaning to, Sun Wukong had become the shadow pulling Wudang's strings.
"Finally heading back."
Muhwa stretched, arms reaching toward the sky.
"I've packed everything. All of it, including what we had at Changcheon Terrace."
"Then we leave now. Nothing left to stay for."
"You're really not remaining at Wudang?"
Muhwa's eyes shone.
"Why would I stay at Wudang?"
"I nearly fell over when the Sect Leader called you senior brother, you know. Wasn't that his way of trying to keep Teacher Sun here by any means necessary?"
The Sect Leader of Wudang's senior brother. That was no ordinary rank. Even Muhwa, if he was honest, no longer quite knew how he was supposed to treat Sun Wukong.
Taecheong had bent himself over backward to elevate Sun Wukong's standing. There had to be a reason for treatment like that.
"Teacher Sun has become someone important to Wudang. They want to keep you on their books, one way or another."
"I doubt it. When a high-ranking relative you didn't ask for suddenly shows up, the natural reaction is discomfort."
"Well, that's true too. But even just what Teacher Sun has is enough to make them hungry."
"What I have?"
"A living vein of Wudang martial arts. Of course they'd want it. They'll be hoping Teacher Sun stays at Wudang and raises the next generation."
Sun Wukong stroked his chin and nodded.
He did have that look about him, the Sect Leader.
Sun Wukong had read it too.
Which is exactly why they have no choice but to cling.
What he possessed was precious to them.
Another leash, in its way.
The truth was that there was no "living vein of Wudang martial arts" to speak of. He knew the original form of the Taiji Sword of Wisdom and nothing more. He had nothing he could actually give them.
Let them misunderstand all they like.
It wasn't even a lie. If they chose to misunderstand on their own and bound themselves to him because of it, so much the better. He could dangle the possibility without ever quite delivering, and in doing so hold the entire Wudang Sect in the palm of his hand.
"Which is why we need to get out of Wudang."
"What?"
"They'll only get desperate if I'm not here."
"Ah..."
Muhwa let out a short breath of admiration.
"Then let's move. I need to see that Ojeong brat soon, too."
"Ah, Ojeong... You two must be close."
"Close, my ass."
Sun Wukong's face crumpled.
"No idea if he's even doing the job I gave him."
"The job you gave him?"
"Something like that."
Sun Wukong answered as if it were nothing and turned to go.
That was when a party of Wudang martial artists approached.
"...The Mugok Hall Master?"
Even Sun Wukong had to pause. The Mugok Hall Master himself was coming toward them, the Ten Swords of Wudang at his back. Sun Wukong took in their appearance and tilted his head. They were packed for light travel.
"Matters have taken a rather curious turn."
The Mugok Hall Master smiled faintly.
"Given how things stand, it seems best we travel to the Namgung Clan Estate together."
"Things?"
Sun Wukong cocked his head and glanced at Muhwa. Muhwa looked just as lost. If anything, he was the more alarmed of the two, and he asked in a rush:
"What things? Has something happened at the Namgung Clan Estate?"
The Mugok Hall Master's expression turned peculiar.
"You hadn't heard? Ah — well. The news only reached us this morning, so..."
"Heard what?"
"Something considerable. No — I find myself wondering whether anything this loud has happened since the Great Orthodox-Unorthodox War."
The Mugok Hall Master smiled as he spoke.