50. Is This Name More Familiar?
Thoughts were fleeting.
Sun Wukong turned his senses toward the approaching Baek-an-magun.
The centipede demon.
A grotesque monster with countless legs, each tipped with eyes. Disgusting.
A rather difficult opponent. Incredibly fast, elusive, venomous, and with eyes everywhere.
Those red eyes.
Sun Wukong stared at the bulging, glistening eyes with a faint smile.
“Baek-an-magun, Baek-an-magun. Having many eyes doesn’t mean you see everything, or that you can see everything.”
Whoosh!
Sun Wukong suddenly punched toward the eyes. Red demonic energy flashed like lightning from his fist. The charging Baek-an-magun raised his sword in response like lightning. But the sword halted as if blocked by something intense.
True Void.
A single point of nothingness.
“This… what is this…!”
Baek-an-magun was shocked. His internal energy suddenly vanished.
The latent energy that had been erupting exploded into a vortex and was sucked away.
Baek-an-magun’s face turned deathly pale. The destructive latent energy, more potent than his pure internal energy, disappeared without a trace.
“Impossible!”
It was pure terror.
The sensation of his power being completely drained.
The True Void grew larger and larger. The single point of the fist extended by Sun Wukong had already invaded the space.
Golden light flickered. The surroundings flashed with gold. Red like blood mixed in.
Baek-an-magun standing in the space shuddered at the strange feeling of his soul being sucked away.
“Disappear… I have to get out.”
True Void was like a sea of ants.
Greedily devouring everything, like a great demon that swallows all.
Myeol-yo-gong.
A martial art created with demonic energy that paradoxically devours demons. For Baek-an-magun, it was powerful.
Baek-an-magun ground his teeth. Blood poured out.
He squeezed all the remaining internal energy in his dantian. The stopped sword moved.
It pierced through the True Void.
Baek-an-magun’s bulging eyes faced it all.
Sun Wukong smiled lightly.
“You’re quite skilled.”
Different mental fortitude from Sa Hyeol-cheol-gwi or Honse-mawang.
He stared straight at the bulging eyes. Boiling red energy inside the pupils.
Sun Wukong thought.
“I don’t like it.”
Disgusting eyes. Sun Wukong lightly deflected the stabbing sword.
The sword tip slid dangerously over the back of his hand. The fingertips of Sun Wukong digging through to avoid the sword.
The unexpected, precise stabbing fingertips pierced both of Baek-an-magun’s eyes in an instant.
Puck!
“Ah, uwaaaaaah!”
The sword that had been thrust out with momentum lost power and fell with a thud.
Grasping the eyes streaming with blood, Baek-an-magun rolled on the floor wildly.
“Stupidly opening your eyes and causing trouble.”
Sun Wukong shook off the blood on his fingertips.
“Teacher Sun…”
Muhwa approached with a vague, ambiguous expression as if she knew or didn’t know.
Sun Wukong waved his hand as if greeting.
“You worked hard. You fought well.”
“Thank you.”
She had a lot to say.
But the urgent matter was Baek-an-magun writhing on the floor screaming, so Muhwa swallowed her words.
Sun Wukong had seen through her intentions but didn’t mention it first.
Perhaps due to her boiling internal energy, she asked with a somewhat pale face.
“Is he an acquaintance?”
“Well, someone I knew in my previous life.”
“What? Previous life?”
Muhwa’s expression was astonished.
Sun Wukong chuckled.
Unlike Sa Hyeol-cheol-gwi or Honse-mawang, Baek-an-magun wasn’t from the Sama Order.
Not even in the righteous war, and at least Muhwa hadn’t heard such greetings.
Yet Sun Wukong acted as if he knew.
Curious, she asked the reason, but the answer left her speechless.
“This guy hides a lot.”
Even his martial arts were surprisingly shocking. Sun Wukong was already at a great level since he had driven out Hon-am-do. But Muhwa had personally fought him and felt the level of expert. Yet Sun Wukong suppressed him lightly as if playing.
He had pierced the eyes of a swordsman with bare hands.
The difference was unimaginable.
“Moreover, the movements in my mind…”
Movements perfectly suited to her body, which she hadn’t known.
The fist techniques and palm methods she had trained were all thrown into the trash as they fit too well.
An incomprehensiblely excellent advice.
To be able to pin down an expert just by speaking.
The feeling of internalizing martial arts just by speaking had never been felt before.
“Hmm.”
But thoughts didn’t continue long.
Muhwa frowned and staggered. Her body swayed as if she couldn’t stand on two legs. Sun Wukong immediately caught her body that was about to collapse.
“House Law Lord?”
“…Uhm.”
Muhwa’s face, letting out only a short groan, was pale to the point of deathly white.
The body she leaned on was drenched in cold sweat. Sun Wukong clicked his tongue.
“Poison…?”
He stomped on the writhing Baek-an-magun unnecessarily hard.
Kkueok, the groan was unpleasant.
“I sprinkled poison secretly while mixing swords.”
Sun Wukong sighed.
The centipede demon is a centipede monster. There is no poison as strong as centipede venom. Even in new reincarnation, the ones he had met so far had used their previous skills in the form of martial arts.
The centipede demon probably had expertise in poison.
“Uuuu…”
Sun Wukong first pressed the acupuncture points to stop the poison from spreading as much as possible.
Stopping the spread to important organs like the brain and heart would be effective in stopping the poison’s progression.
“Demon energy… Is it okay?”
Temporary measure to block acupuncture points with internal energy.
Sun Wukong had heard such a method from Ohjeong.
But the problem was that Sun Wukong had no internal energy.
“Can I put demonic energy into a human body?”
Sun Wukong frowned. Even Sun Wukong, who fears nothing in the world, couldn’t do it easily. Demonic energy is only for demons. Humans can’t handle it. Even if the source of internal energy was demonic energy, over countless ages it had been purified in nature, and then refined by humans into pure internal energy.
The wriggling in Sun Wukong’s dantian was the purest demonic energy itself.
The demonic aura that leads demons to evil nature.
Sun Wukong clicked his tongue.
“If necessary, there is no way.”
It was a bit troublesome, but there was a way to later recover the demonic energy. Sun Wukong’s dominance over demonic energy was the biggest reason he could rule as the king of demons.
More importantly, if he were a normal human, Sun Wukong wouldn’t have cared much whether he lived or died.
That would be the fate written in the life and death book.
But now it was different.
“Hmm, I can’t do that.”
Sun Wukong cautiously pushed the demonic energy in.
Fortunately, there was no special reaction. The spreading demonic energy seemed to have calmed, and a slight warmth returned to his face.
At that moment, when Sun Wukong finished the temporary measure for Muhwa.
Like a majestic crane landing, Namgung Jinbaek fell from the sky with dignified posture.
The appearance that appeared without a sound was surprising, but Sun Wukong replied casually.
“Too late.”
“Oh, House Law Lord…”
“Poisoned. For now, I have taken temporary measures.”
“Hmm. Good. It seems there’s no problem with the life, but we should take him to the main family for treatment.”
“Speaking of which, what happened to the one we were chasing?”
Sun Wukong nodded his head and looked at Namgung Jinbaek. The white owl on his shoulder, Myeodu-eung.
Namgung Jinbaek, who entrusted the task to Sun Wukong, wouldn’t be sleeping or resting. The moment he saw the flying Myeodu-eung, he must have realized the situation and chased.
Sun Wukong’s prediction was accurate.
“I tried to capture him, but he resisted fiercely, so I had no choice.”
Namgung Jinbaek smiled awkwardly and raised his hand.
An old man’s head with eyes wide open. There was a bruise next to his nose.
“Well, it’s fine. I caught one.”
Sun Wukong pointed to Baek-an-magun and conveyed the contents revealed so far. The warriors recruited from Hwangbo Sega had been here dealing with the weirdos, and it seemed they were being used by them.
After briefly listening to all the stories, Namgung Jinbaek’s expression became serious.
“Something unusual is happening.”
“Well, for now, let’s investigate one by one. Please take charge of the Hwangbo Sega side, Lord.”
“Hmm… Then that guy?”
“I’ll take care of it.”
Namgung Jinbaek stared at Sun Wukong quietly and nodded.
Sun Wukong immediately turned his gaze away.
“What should I do with this guy.”
Sun Wukong’s cold eyes swept over him.
Baek-an-magun.
Alias Baek-an-magun.
A centipede monster who made a sworn brotherly bond with the Seven Star Sword fragments and Uimamae.
Usually disguising as a Taoist priest and feeding centipede poison to Tang Sanzang, Ohjeong, and Palgye.
A demon with a thousand legs and a thousand eyes, as the name suggests.
“For now, I need to keep him alive.”
Different from Sa Hyeol-cheol-gwi and even Honse-mawang.
His status in the dark world would be different.
“First, let’s press the acupuncture points and take him.”
Sun Wukong said so and pressed the acupuncture points of the writhing Baek-an-magun.
“Kkak!”
With a short final groan, Baek-an-magun arched his back.
“Huh?”
“Ah. This wasn’t the place.”
Sun Wukong poked another acupuncture point with a flat voice.
“Kkeueuk!”
Baek-an-magun’s limbs twisted strangely. Foam came out of his mouth.
“Eh. Why is this happening.”
Sun Wukong said so and continued poking several acupuncture points. Every time he poked one, Baek-an-magun’s body shook roughly.
“Teacher Sun…”
“Hahaha. My acupuncture method isn’t familiar.”
Namgung Jinbaek immediately saw through the awkward smile as a lie.
“Poking acupuncture points without relation, poking places that give extreme pain…”
Even if deliberately, it would be hard to do.
How much time had passed. Baek-an-magun, who had only been groaning in pain, became silent. Saliva flowed from the corner of his mouth. Even if touched, there was no reaction.
Sun Wukong smiled satisfied.
“Hmm. It seems the acupuncture points are pressed.”
“…”
He seemed to have fainted.
Namgung Jinbaek barely swallowed the words that were about to pop out.
Flames bloomed. The main hall burned and collapsed. The screams that couldn’t escape pierced the sky.
“Dream.”
Muhwa felt the swaying body and immediately realized it was a dream.
From childhood, or since she started thinking, she had been dreaming this.
Muhwa liked this dream. Despite the screams, moans, burning village, blood-red shadows, and all the things that tormented her, she liked this dream.
“Mother…”
Only in this dream could she feel the warm embrace of a mother whose face she didn’t remember.
But it didn’t last long.
The mother who was running while holding young Muhwa collapsed on the floor. Screams and moans got closer. The mother’s face was not visible. But she probably had a firm determination.
Muhwa had slept long in the dream, but imagining that expression was not easy.
“You have to go. You have to escape somehow. Run far away somehow. Don’t get caught, far, very far!”
Muhwa cried. The dream was ending.
She stared quietly at the invisible face.
“Don’t get caught… love… ah.”
The last voice was not heard. The word buried in all the noise.
Muhwa instinctively knew it was her lost real name.
But unfortunately, the dream didn’t allow more.
She would wake up here. As always.
“…?”
But she didn’t wake up. The horrific scene around her blurred like melting watercolor, and a snowy mountain unfolded before her eyes.
Kwaang! Kwang!
Muhwa’s eyes widened. On the snowy mountain, a giant snowman, hard to guess the shape, roared ferociously and waved its arms wildly. The sky rumbled and the ground shook violently with the fierce power.
“What is this…?”
Dazed. The snowman was ferocious. Even knowing it was a dream, Muhwa’s heart sank.
“Keep your mind straight! What are you doing!”
A golden light beam fell like lightning with a piercing shout.
The snowman screamed in pain.
Muhwa’s pupils shook uncontrollably. Golden light invaded the snowy mountain. Clad in dazzling armor, riding clouds, swinging a long staff, the snowman ran away screaming.
“You idiot! Where did you put your mind! Move now!”
The person on the cloud shouted. Muhwa realized it was speaking to her.
But her body didn’t move easily.
This fight was not a martial artist’s fight, but a battle against outsiders. No matter how much Muhwa, her stiff body was hard to move.
The snowman’s escape was in the direction of Muhwa. Naturally, the outsider approached.
“?”
Only then did Muhwa’s eyes see the outsider’s appearance clearly.
The one in dazzling armor… a monkey with golden fur.
He shouted as if roaring.
“Keep your mind!”
At that moment, eyes met with the golden monkey.
What did he shout?
At that moment, the face of the mother who had disappeared overlapped. An expression full of worry in the beautiful face.
The mother shouted. The golden monkey also shouted.
“I love you… O-neung-ah.”
“Keep your mind, O-neung (悟能)!”
Muhwa’s eyes opened. The compassionate mother’s expression, the golden monkey’s face shouting at her, disappeared. Instead, a cheerful face popped up.
“Sun… Teacher?”
“You finally woke up.”
Muhwa felt a damp sensation from her heavy, sinking body.
The foreignness remaining in her body.
“Poison…”
She had been poisoned. She smiled bitterly. Falling from just poison. As a warrior of Namgung Sega, her face is not good.
“Rest a bit. It’s a vicious centipede poison. Fortunately, the friends from Sichuan Tang Clan made a medicine recipe, so it ended. It was close to a big disaster.”
“…”
Muhwa looked at Sun Wukong with dazed eyes. For the first time, she was confused in her mind that Sun Wukong had taken care of her. Seeing Muhwa’s expression, Sun Wukong chuckled as if guessing her thoughts.
“Isn’t it obvious?”
“Obvious?”
“About taking care of my little sister.”
“Eh?”
Muhwa’s face flushed. Sun Wukong was laughing openly.
“Hyung can take care of little sister O-neung’s condition. O-neung-ah.”
“…”
Muhwa’s body shook as if hit by lightning.
The last name she had heard in the dream.
The name her mother called, shouted by the golden monkey.
How? How the name in the dream?
Muhwa just looked at him with vacant eyes, Sun Wukong had a bitter smile.
“Ah, is the name awkward? Yeah, it was a Dharma name. Hmm. Is it more familiar to be called this?”
Sun Wukong took a breath and said with a smile.
With a genuinely happy light.
“This will be more familiar. Won’t it, Palgye.”