So It Was You Who Called Me
The fog was thick.
The deeper he went, the denser it became. Sun Wukong felt as though something were drawing him in.
This isn't keeping outsiders out. If anything, it's welcoming them.
His eyes swept the surroundings, sharp and searching. He couldn't see an inch in front of his face. It was enough to make him feel as though he were walking through clouds.
Restricted vision was no obstacle. There existed a realm of mastery in which one saw without seeing.
But he could not see.
"This isn't ordinary fog."
This was no mere mist, heavy with damp. Sun Wukong clicked his tongue at the stinging sensation prickling his skin.
"It's yeongryeok."
His skin burned as if scorched by flame, and he couldn't help a low chuckle. A familiar power. Yeongryeok was the force wielded by the gods of Heaven. In the mortal world of ages past, a vanishingly small number of humans had been able to use it, however faintly — the dharma power of eminent Buddhist monks, the daoist arts of wondrous immortals. The celestial power of Buddhas and immortals was something Sun Wukong himself had once commanded. He had been the Victorious Fighting Buddha, after all. A Primordial True Immortal of Heaven.
"Nngh. Come down to the mortal world and I can't use a scrap of it — and now this is what I run into."
It hadn't bothered him originally. He hadn't needed yeongryeok. His very existence had been supreme. Now, he felt a twinge of regret. The more the fog seeped into him, the more violently his body rejected it, and a dry laugh slipped out.
"This kind of power is poison to a demon."
This was why demons rarely dared to touch an Earth Deity. And why even human monks and daoists of great attainment could slay them. A power antithetical to the demonic. Sun Wukong found the situation rather amusing.
"I'm really starting to feel it now — that I'm a demon again."
A lonely smile crossed his face. The fog inflicted pain as if it meant to burn his skin away. The demonic nature he had shed on the long, bitter road with Sanzang — now he felt it literally on his skin, the fact that he had become the king of demons once more.
"Well. I'll go back when the job's done anyway. Doesn't matter."
He shook off the stray thoughts and leftover feelings crowding his mind. Petty sentiment wasn't what mattered here. A fog of yeongryeok was something the demon Sun Wukong could not see through. The same was true of humans.
"Looking at this, that Namgung Jinbaek's instincts are sharp, I'll give him that."
He'd said they'd need a renowned daoist, not a martial artist, hadn't he? He was right. Yeongryeok had to be met with yeongryeok.
The real problem, though, wasn't the blindness.
"They've gone and turned this into a labyrinth."
Loss of directional sense. Sun Wukong snorted and brushed it aside. Faint sonic waves filled the air around him — inaudible noise from some deep abyss. Sounds from a layer of the world no human ear could reach. The sonic waves certain beasts used to communicate with one another were silent to humans, but they had a profound effect. They rattled the eardrums and paralyzed the sense of direction. Vision restricted, directional sense lost — for an ordinary human, this would be no small trial.
Of course, if noise were the problem, one could simply seal off one's hearing with inner energy. The key was that no one would easily realize the noise was the problem — because they couldn't hear it.
"That's how it'd be for a human, anyway."
Sun Wukong stretched both arms overhead. He could hear all of it. He just needed to plug his ears. He walked forward in a perfectly straight line, unwavering.
Before long, he found where the younger generation had gathered.
"Over there... they don't look too shaken yet."
From a distance, their expressions showed some bewilderment, but they were keeping their composure. At their head, Namgung Muyoung was calmly reassuring them, carefully searching for a path.
"Good. I've got their location. First, let's deal with whoever's pulling this stunt."
But no matter how far he walked, nothing appeared. As the fog continued to choke his vision, irritation began to well up. A stifling frustration surged through him. Sun Wukong, honest with his emotions to a fault, was getting thoroughly pissed off.
"I don't know who's pulling this shit, but when I find them, I'm going to beat them black and blue."
He ground his teeth and kept walking. Then he stopped, drawing a deep breath. Without warning, he pulled the steel staff from his back and swung it like a thunderbolt.
KWAANG! KWANG! KWAANG!
The ground shook as if struck by an earthquake. Every time Sun Wukong slammed the steel staff into the earth, the very axis of the world seemed to tremble.
He roared at the top of his lungs, venting every scrap of irritation that had piled up. The frustration of searching for Sanzang, the rage of old enemies coming after him — it all came boiling out in a single torrent. Perhaps it was because he had a demon's body again. His old temperament was leaking through, bit by bit.
Not long after he started screaming and pounding the ground, something changed. The fog began to move, forming something like a long corridor.
Sun Wukong grumbled and put away his staff.
"Honestly. Some folks only listen after they get hit."
The fog thinned into a single stream, as if guiding the way. He walked slowly into that space. In the distance, a massive cavern came faintly into view.
Sun Wukong glanced to the side. On his shoulder sat a small owl, now motionless as if dead, its energy completely gone.
"I wonder if there was another Earth Deity here besides you."
To create a path and move freely with this much yeongryeok...
No way a god descended from Heaven.
He walked steadily toward the cavern. It was large and wide. Above all, it was deep. The air flowing from within was as cold as the chill of the North Sea.
"This isn't just my imagination."
The very flow of energy was different. The cavern's entrance was like a boundary line. Sun Wukong walked slowly, looking around. There wasn't a single point of light — it was pitch-black — but he saw through the darkness in an instant. Everything was vividly clear.
"Sword marks?"
His hand brushed one side of the wall. Gouged deep here, jutting out there. Traces carved by a blade. Sword marks.
"So this really is where the founder of the Namgung Clan trained."
He examined the marks with genuine interest. The deeper he went, the more the traces changed. The early marks were unremarkable — not carved deep, some so faint they looked like mere grazes. Further in, the flow transformed. The presence became sharp and magnificent. He could see the process of gradual development and growth. From the beginning, when the path was unknown, to the end, when the form slowly reached completion.
The Sword Form.
And the very last remaining mark...
"Nothing."
Sun Wukong clicked his tongue in disappointment. There were no more traces. A wall blocked the way. He stared at it for a moment, then brought his steel staff down with all his strength.
KWAANG!
The cavern shuddered violently. Even with Sun Wukong swinging his staff at full power, the wall did not break. The corner of his mouth lifted.
"Not bad."
He pounded away without restraint. Dust billowed thick, and the wall that had stood like iron finally crumbled.
KRRRUMBLE!
He saw through the dust. A heap of stark white bones. Not human remains. He examined the clustered bones slowly.
"Beasts."
Animal bones. Well, this was a cave — all sorts of creatures could have crawled in here to die. If this hadn't been such a formidable barrier, that would have been a reasonable assumption.
"But a beast two zhang tall — six meters — and a bird, at that?"
He slowly pieced the bones together. White feathers, buried in the dirt. A bird. One of enormous size. No mere animal.
His voice grew heavy. He found himself looking at Myodu-eung on his shoulder. Myodu-eung remained Myodu-eung across generations. There was only one Earth Deity per territory, and when their purpose was fulfilled, they passed the role to the next generation and ascended to Heaven. That was the fate and the life-cycle of an Earth Deity. Death did not exist for them.
Unless someone killed them.
His voice turned bitter.
"Myodu-eung. Myodu-eung. You didn't ascend. You died."
This heap of bones. The remains of the previous Myodu-eung.
Somehow, it made sense.
It was too young.
Sun Wukong looked at the owl on his shoulder. An Earth Deity waited patiently until its successor had grown enough to fulfill its role. The current Myodu-eung was far too young. Just watching it have a staring contest with a cat, you could tell it was an unripe owlet whose temperament hadn't matured. That had struck him as odd. Now the question was answered.
"Killed all of a sudden, then."
Meaning someone had killed it. Killed an Earth Deity. He felt it with certainty.
The day Sanzang's soul vanished.
That was the day the previous Myodu-eung had died. Sun Wukong let out a deep sigh.
"You've led me this far. Show yourself, Myodu-eung."
In that instant, the owl that had been hanging limp as a corpse on his shoulder spread its wings wide and rose lightly into the air.
"...Myodu-eung."
A solemn voice transmitted into his mind. Sun Wukong snorted and sat down. Not the lively voice of the young owl Myodu-eung, but a low, grave tone — unhurried and dignified, like that of an old man. He smiled faintly at the owl.
The spirit of the deceased previous Myodu-eung had resonated with the current one. Sun Wukong chuckled. If it remembered seeing him, the thing must have been ancient indeed. Then again, that would explain how it could still wield yeongryeok and create this whole situation, even with its body rotted down to a pile of bones.
"How'd you know I was coming?"
"So you've got a problem with that?"
"You think I can't hit you just because you're in the afterlife?"
Sun Wukong stroked his steel staff. Myodu-eung trembled for an instant. Old memories had surfaced. The owl hastily changed the subject.
"Why would I leave that place to run away to this miserable mortal world?"
He let out a deep sigh. Yeah... why was he putting himself through this?
Myodu-eung kept asking, as if still suspicious. Sun Wukong's brow furrowed.
"I came down on the Tathagata's orders. I have to find Sanzang."
Myodu-eung hopped in place. It cried out as if relieved.
"So what did you want to tell me that was worth calling me here? Taking humans hostage, no less."
"Tsk."
"Know what?"
Sun Wukong's face went hard as stone. A low growl, like a beast's rumble, spilled from his mouth.
Light flashed in his eyes.