I'll Wipe Them All Out
"So it is the Great Sage, Equal to Heaven."
The old man—the escort bureau master they'd called that Baekga bastard—wore a bitter smile.
He had wondered. The whole region had taken a sudden, inexplicable turn, and the question had kept circling back: could it be that the Great Sage rumored to be staying with the Namgung Clan had actually come?
Where is the Somersault Cloud? And where is the Ruyi Jingu Bang?
Those were Sun Wukong's signature treasures, after all. And Sun Wukong was not the sort to hide anything. If memory served, he had been a childish brat who flaunted every last thing he owned as if the world were his stage. Perhaps the Great Sage had not appeared at all.
But the moment those golden locks came into view, and those flashing Fiery Golden Eyes with them, the old man could only let out a long, heavy sigh.
How could he fail to know those eyes? He had seen them once already—burned crimson by the acrid smoke of Taeshang Laojun's Eight Trigrams Furnace.
The skill was unmistakable as well. He had sent out the martial artists he had poured his heart's blood into raising, and not one of them had so much as grazed a single hair on Sun Wukong's head.
"The Great Sage has come. The Great Sage himself."
That golden monkey had arrived. The old man's body trembled. An indescribable weight resonated from the name alone—those four characters, Great Sage, Equal to Heaven.
The pressure lasted only a moment. The Baekga elder shoved it aside with fierce, glittering eyes and set his mind furiously to work.
"The fact that the brat hid his identity and then chose to show himself means…"
It meant he no longer needed to hide who he was.
"So that's it. He was the one drawing every eye."
The Baekga elder clenched his teeth. He had been far too distracted. He'd already been short on time chasing Geumgak, and then, determined to tap every stone before he crossed the bridge, he had let far too much of it slip away.
"While that brat was buying time, the Namgung Clan secured Geumgak."
He bit down on his lip. He could not stay here any longer. He launched into his next move at once, snapping an order to the subordinate at his side.
"Mobilize the Yusal Sect. Hold that brat's feet."
The guard did not even answer. His form rippled like a shadow and vanished. The old man who had given the order rose from his seat at once.
That was when it happened.
"…!"
Sun Wukong was looking directly this way. The old man's eyes flew wide.
The distance between them was so great they should not even have registered each other as specks. Only then did the old man grasp a single, obvious fact.
If I can see him, that means the Great Sage can see me too.
Perhaps it was because he had so rarely met anyone stronger than himself. He had been slow—embarrassingly slow—to grasp so simple a principle.
In that instant, their eyes locked. Sun Wukong curled the corner of his mouth and hurled his steel staff.
What had been nothing more than a tiny black speck swelled to a monstrous size in the very act of being perceived.
—Shweeeek!
The sound arrived late, tearing into his ears. Faster than the noise itself, the steel staff came shrieking in, trailing a fierce bloom of flame. Like an arrow loosed from a bow. No—faster than any arrow.
The old man's face went rigid.
"Hmph."
Sun Wukong furrowed his brow, plainly displeased.
"Would've been nicer if there'd been a cooling corpse lying there."
Only the steel staff stood planted in the earth. Fully half of it had punched through the hard ground and buried itself. Launched faster than an arrow, it had crossed that enormous distance without losing a shred of force and driven itself in this deep. Had it struck a man, half his body would have vanished without leaving even a shape behind.
Unfortunately, there was not even half a body to be found.
"He dodged and ran."
Sun Wukong pulled the staff free and studied the tip. A faint streak of blood stained it. And scattered across the ground like fallen snow lay white hair—not ordinary white. A translucent white, as if rimed with frost. He picked some up, turned it between his fingers, and clicked his tongue.
"The way he bolted, he's no ordinary customer."
Namgung Cheonyeong had gone down in two exchanges, so he had figured the man was fairly strong. Privately he had guessed two or three moves above Baek-an-magun. But from what he could tell now, it was more than that.
Maybe this is the one who told them to find the Seven Star Sword. Their leader.
Sun Wukong stroked his chin. He had gotten quite a bit of information out of the Shandong Seven Shadows. Their organization was split into several groups, each operating in secret in the province it had been assigned. The Shandong Seven Shadows had not known the first thing about the Seven Star Sword.
They said they operated mainly around Shandong Province.
He had run into Sa Hyeol-cheol-gwi in Hubei last time, and Honamdo had come from Hubei as well. Sun Wukong realized that the man here now was the leader of the group operating in secret around Hubei.
"So the boss himself stepped out."
To capture Geumgak. Geumgak had just left the Wudang Sect—it would have been a perfect opportunity. But Sun Wukong figured there had to be a reason even the leader had come in person.
"Judging by the black-clad men's skills alone, this is something he could've handled without showing his face."
To make absolutely sure of it? Or…
"He needed it done fast."
Sun Wukong's eyes sharpened for an instant. He looked at the frost-like hair resting on his palm, then blew it away with a puff of breath.
"So a reason came up that it had to be settled quickly."
He could speculate. He could not know the inner workings.
"In the end, I'll have to dig deeper before any of this starts making sense."
The Shandong Seven Shadows had poured out everything they knew, but little of it had mattered. What they knew, moreover, was limited to the Shandong region.
"I'll use this chance to either take this bastard alive—or beat him to death in one blow."
Sun Wukong's eyes gleamed with a chilling light. He turned at once and headed back to where the fight with the black-clad men had taken place.
"…"
Thud. Thunk!
The first thing that met his eyes upon returning was Namgung Seowol, coldly finishing the fallen black-clad men. Sun Wukong let out a blank little huh and stared, but Seowol paid him no mind whatsoever and cut every last life short. Only after she had killed them all did she answer him, her face sullen.
"No need to let them live."
"Mm."
"There's no reason to spread rumors anymore."
Sun Wukong crossed his arms. She was right. The baiting was over. Namgung Muyoung had already secured Geumgak.
"And you said it was a hunt."
Sun Wukong smiled wryly. She had taken a casual remark of his at face value. It was not wrong. He had no intention of criticizing Seowol's methods.
Even Hojup Seonja, that renowned Taoist, had worn a grave expression—and had still thoroughly subdued the enemy and killed them. His identity as a man of Murim ran deeper than his identity as a Taoist.
Sun Wukong was no different. Even if, after all his trials, he had become a Buddha and professed a doctrine of non-killing—those who deserved to die still had to die. Otherwise how would they go to the underworld, receive judgment, and fall into hell?
Was this how Sanzang felt?
The scoldings of Sanzang, who had always reprimanded him for his excessive methods, flickered faintly through his mind. Sun Wukong wore a bitter smile.
Me lecturing this kid is pretty funny, when you think about it.
Besides, it was not even something he could call wrong. He had done the same thing. Anyone who bared vicious fangs at him and poured out hostility, he had smashed to death with a single blow of the Ruyi Jingu Bang, no exceptions. The age of demons had not been so different from this Murim.
Still, Sun Wukong offered Namgung Seowol a piece of advice in a low voice.
"Make it painless."
"…"
"The moment you kill not for a purpose, but because you enjoy it—that's when you become a demon."
Like I once was.
He did not say the last part aloud.
Perhaps his earnest voice struck her differently than usual. Namgung Seowol paused, then looked at him with wide eyes. She murmured the words over and over under her breath, then gave a faint nod.
"Got it."
"Good. That's all I needed."
"From now on I'll say so first, then kill them."
"…Uh. Yeah."
Somehow, he understood Sanzang's feelings a little better.
It did not take long for Sun Wukong to realize the situation was turning ugly.
"Well, look at this."
He smashed a black-clad man blocking his path with his staff and cocked his head. On their way to make contact with Namgung Muyoung, black-clad men who had not shown themselves at all until now kept pouring out of the woodwork.
That much was not a problem. If he just swung his staff at whatever came, who was going to stop him?
"This… it would appear they mean to hold us in place."
Hojup Seonja spoke in a grave tone. A veteran of the martial world, he had grasped the situation in an instant.
"They intend to pin Teacher Sun's feet with their subordinates while they arrive ahead of us. I am certain of it."
Sun Wukong nodded. He agreed.
Sharper and smarter than I expected.
They must have read it from his own actions.
They realized I was looking for Geumgak—and that I'd already found him. From a single move of mine.
What followed was even more aggressive than he had anticipated. They used the black-clad men to block the road. No one could stop Sun Wukong—the gap in class was simply too vast, and that much was obvious. But stopping him was not their goal.
They clung, sticky and persistent, as if holding his feet were their sole purpose in this world. They kept latching on, doing whatever it took to buy time and pin him down. As if they did not care about their own lives. As if this were the only reason they existed.
Sun Wukong conceded the point.
"So he was watching Namgung Muyoung's movements closely too."
He might not have known the exact location, but he had clearly had a rough grasp of their trail. Otherwise he would not be moving to chase them this immediately.
"He wants to get there first and snatch Geumgak."
Sun Wukong clicked his tongue.
"I can't find any traces! It's like he's a ghost!"
Myodu-eung, circling overhead, had not been able to track the white-haired old man either. At this rate, catching the bastard first and beating answers out of him was going to be difficult.
Sun Wukong sighed and reduced another charging man to pulp with his steel staff.
That was when it happened.
Something caught on his keen senses. A dozen-odd shadows. Gleaming metal shooting from their sleeves.
Sun Wukong moved like lightning, spinning his steel staff. A faint barrier of energy unfurled around him.
A thin membrane of force bloomed outward from the whirling staff, ringing the air like a drawn bowstring.
Kagagagagang! Kagagagang!
A rain of metal poured down.
"Assassins!"
Hojup Seonja cried out as if the word itself were a scream. Sun Wukong's brow furrowed.
"These ones have some decent tricks."
The assassins' skill was no ordinary thing. The charging black-clad men had been bait. While attention was on them, the killers had closed in without a whisper. Sun Wukong smiled faintly. If he had not spun his staff and raised that barrier, Seowol at least would have been cut by the hidden weapons. It had been that stealthy, that cunning a scheme.
"You treacherous vermin!"
Hojup Seonja roared, his shout laden with profound inner energy, and swept his sword. Sun Wukong, too, sent his staff through a dazzling blur. Assassins were terrifying when hidden. The moment they were exposed, they were nothing to fear. And against Sun Wukong? He swept the staff without the slightest hesitation.
Kwaang! Kwang kwang!
Countless shockwaves of energy poured from the staff. A dozen-odd assassins were swept away in an instant.
After checking the corpses, Hojup Seonja frowned.
"Assassins of the Yusal Sect."
"The Yusal Sect?"
"They operate along the border of Hubei and Anhui, yet they never cross into Anhui. They do not fear Wudang—but they do fear the Namgung Clan."
"Why?"
"Because these ones are the descendants of those who once cooperated with the Sama Order."
Sun Wukong nodded. So that was why Seowol had been swinging her blade with such particularly vicious killing intent.
"They're even deploying assassins."
"There is a limit to the number of subordinates one can command."
"A troublesome business. Once the Yusal Sect's assassins accept a contract, they never abandon it."
Sun Wukong snorted a laugh.
"Then we'll make them give up."
"…?"
"Looks to me like the assassins are going to keep showing up without end."
He sounded irritated.
"I'll have to make them quit."
"And how do you propose to accomplish that?"
"When the flies are buzzing, you burn out the maggots, don't you?"
"…!"
Sun Wukong grinned. Seowol approached with a questioning look.
"At this rate, we'll be late."
Sun Wukong smiled as if to say she need not worry. He glanced aside. The sun was sinking in the west. It would not be long before complete darkness fell.
"If we finish before the sun goes down, we'll be fine."
"…!"
Namgung Seowol's eyes went round. She was not the only one—Hojup Seonja's mouth fell open as well.
Sun Wukong muttered softly.
With everything you've got.
Sun Wukong's eyes flashed with a chilling gleam.