The Hero Returns

Chapter 484 – Chapter 484

Su-hyeun alternated his gaze between Buddha and the crimson jewel on his palm.

Buddha was urging him with a hand gesture. Su-hyeun was stuck in a dilemma, wondering if this was the right thing to do, but eventually, he did as he was told and placed Britra’s heart in his mouth.

And when he did, something mystifying happened.

Shu-rururu…

The heart became soft and tender like a supple cloud, which was entirely at odds with what it initially felt in his grip before melting down instantly.

Fwhoosh—!

At the same time, it felt as if liquefied metal super-heated by fire had been poured down his throat, and a wave of incredible heat crashed into his mouth.

“Heuph…!”

Shocked by what happened, Su-hyeun was about to spit everything out, but Buddha raised his voice, “You must not spit it out.”

His words seemed to contain some mysterious power because Su-hyeun stopped trying to spit the heat out and gritted his teeth to endure it instead. He staggered and plopped halfway down to the ground, but when he looked up at Buddha, the latter was shaking his head with an expression not too different from a minute ago.

“You mustn’t do that.”

“…”

The jewel melting within his mouth—or rather, the Dragon Heart—soon traveled down Su-hyeun’s throat and seeped into his core.

It was almost as if he had swallowed the spiciest, hottest food imaginable in the world. Starting from his throat down to his gut, he began to vividly sense the shape of his esophagus, the existence of which was something he hadn’t been that conscious of until now.

“Kuh…!”

Whoooosh—

The fire that had already taken root within Su-hyeun’s body began responding next.

It was the divine Flame, the fire currently in Su-hyeun’s possession that had been granted godhood.

This fire and Britra’s fire began contesting each other. Just like how water and oil would never mix, although both of them were liquid, the two fires clashed against each other as if they could not coexist.

And that collision caused Su-hyeun’s innards to burn continuously.

Right at that moment…

RUUUUMBLE—!

Pure-crimson flames exploded into life all around Su-hyeun and quickly enveloped him.

“It has begun.” Buddha didn’t do anything and watched this scene unfold.

He didn’t even try to extend a helping hand. Despite the danger that Su-hyeun could die at any second, Buddha didn’t have a single doubt in his mind. He believed that Su-hyeun would emerge victoriously.

This was fate, the flow of destiny. That was what Buddha believed.

* * *

Swhiiiiish—

A cloud flew in the sky while seemingly scything the world in half.

The duo riding the cloud stopped it after reaching the mortal realm below the Heavenly World. The quiet and lonesome scenery that greeted them was a secluded forest and a village just below their position, and that was about it.

“Where are we?” Sun Wukong asked while looking around in curiosity. His keen five senses naturally alerted him to the fact that no one lived here. “Why are we in an empty village?”

It wasn’t that surprising—the village didn’t seem to be an excellent place to live. It was located too deeply within the mountains, and there wasn’t enough suitable terrain to cultivate farmlands.

One would’ve had a difficult time if they wanted to travel to another village from here.

“I used to live in this village.”

“Uh?”

Step—

“Its people have long abandoned it, yet the village still stands even to this day,” Master Subhuti muttered while walking toward the village.

Suddenly feeling a bit sheepish for some reason, Sun Wukong shut his mouth and followed after him.

The village had been abandoned for too long. As such, it was covered in dust, and everything seemed to be falling in decay. Just a little tap would’ve broken the doors down. Even a gentle breeze could have brought the roofs down.

But Master Subhuti’s eyes as he stared at this old and worn, not to mention abandoned, village grew rather sentimental, “I was abruptly reminded of something.”

Shu-wuk—

He stepped inside one of the dilapidated houses, then wiped the dust off its wall. A drawing was on its surface. A little child must have drawn it as “mom” was depicted by a female figure barely identifiable by the long hair. “Dad” was drawn slim with short limbs. Then, “son” stood in the middle of them.

“Uncle, who are you in this drawing?” Sun Wukong instinctively understood that one of the three was Subhuti.

Subhuti smiled brightly and pointed at the little kid in the middle, “That’s me.”

“Wow, so even you used to be this little,” Sun Wukong stared at the drawing with a mystified look on his face.

This little kid was not even half as tall as the mother or the father. Subhuti was an old man for as long as Sun Wukong had known him, so the latter found this drawing rather foreign and even weird to behold.

“This is the flow of things.” Master Subhuti also stared at the drawing for a long while before saying something, “Men will die, revert to being seedlings, and be reborn as babies. After time passes, they become parents. And as they watch over their children, they become one with nature and grow older.”

“Uncle…”

“I had been stuck in ‘that’ place. Many gods are in the same shoes. My parents from this drawing of mine from the distant past that I can’t even remember properly anymore should have probably repeated that cycle many times by now.”

“Are you thinking of leaving now?”

When Sun Wukong asked that, Master Subhuti nodded, “Yes.”

“Mm…” Sun Wukong deeply pondered something before finally opening his mouth, “Thanks for everything, uncle.”

He spoke in a comparatively calm tone.

Subhuti had been thinking of different types of farewells, but he preferred this manner of saying goodbye in all honesty.

He reached up and patted Sun Wukong’s head. The Monkey King was at least a hand span taller than the old god. “You’ve all grown up, Wukong,” he said.

“Nope, I’m gonna stay a little kid,” Sun Wukong replied as if he wanted to sound rebellious. However, he soon became dejected and shook his head, “N—no, wait, I’ll grow up so that I don’t make you worried and all.”

Even from their first encounter, Sun Wukong’s personality had always been like this.

He was as immature as a little kid who only started talking recently. He was a barely contained helter-skelter of a rascal. It was none other than the duo of Master Subhuti and the Bull Demon King who managed to transform Sun Wukong.

Shu-wuk—

“Thank you, Wukong,” Master Subhuti ruffled up Sun Wukong’s hair, then spoke with a subtle grin on his face, “And now, time for the final lesson.”

Whack—

“Ouch!”

Subhuti lightly rapped Sun Wukong’s head with a stick. Although his movement seemed light, the strength was not because Sun Wukong shielded his head with both hands and rubbed the swollen bump there.

“Now engrave this to your heart, Wukong.”

Clouds rapidly gathered, and the scenery around the two changed to that of a sky next.

“Remember today’s teachings.”

Even though he didn’t intend to fly, Sun Wukong’s feet were already floating in the air. Subhuti was standing on the clouds, and nothing else besides clouds existed in their surroundings now.

This space was just for the two of them.

Smirk—

Sun Wukong smirked deeply. He retrieved Ruyi Jingu Bang tied to his back, then nodded rather energetically, “Of course, I will. I mean, it’s your lesson, after all.”

He had imagined many different types of goodbyes in his head: a farewell where they cried buckets and confessed to not wanting to say goodbye or where everything was calm and cordial as if nothing of note was happening.

However, Master Subhuti had already prepared a farewell that most suited someone like Sun Wukong.

And that farewell would be in the form of the “final lesson.”

Sun Wukong continuously fought against Master Subhuti in this place.

They fought and then fought some more as if he didn’t want to accept the reality of needing to say goodbye when this fight comes to an end.

This fight became the longest Sun Wukong had fought ever since he came into existence.

* * *

Trapped inside the massive flame, Su-hyeun closed his eyes.

Rather than enduring this incredible pain, he decided to fight back instead.

So, he closed his eyes and focused on the massive flame rampaging within his body.

“This has to be the real hell, then.”

Ruuuuumble—!

Everything he laid his eyes on was enveloped in flames—the land, the skies, and everywhere.

Flames fierce enough to scorch flesh and melt bones were endlessly blazing, and this place was probably inside Su-hyeun’s body right now.

Seeing all these flames made him automatically groan. His body was now even hotter than the Hell of Scorching Heat?

He couldn’t help but wonder if he had done something he shouldn’t have.

“Even so, I can still fight back.”

His divine Flame was currently combating Britra’s heart.

Two searing-red flames were matched evenly. Neither of them was forced back, and they fought each other off as if they were irreconcilable sworn enemies that had to be killed.

“Man, now that’s intense.”

Ruuuumble—!

When Su-hyeun drove his will, one of the flames grew threateningly large. It was his flame.

With this, he became sure that the flame was definitely his. It existed within his own visualized consciousness, and Britra’s flame opposing it was trying to devour it.

“I can’t lose this.”

He had to suppress that fire somehow and make it his own. Usually, two flames that collided against each other from opposing directions would eventually become one in the end.

Making that happen was something he probably had to accomplish after swallowing up Britra’s heart.

But then…

Ruuumble—

Britra’s flames suddenly grew even more vicious. Then, they began merging in one spot. They formed a physical body, eventually sprouting wings, too.

Finally, it morphed into the figure of a colossal dragon sporting sharp fangs.

Grrrrr—

The creature growling lowly had a truly unforgettable outer appearance.

“Britra…”

It was the red dragon’s appearance revealed for one last time just before its death.

Britra, now a full-fledged dragon made out of flames, shifted its beautiful eyes that sparkled like rubies and glared at Su-hyeun.

When their eyes met, Su-hyeun raised his hand to wave back, “Hello there, do you still—?”

Kyaaaaaah—!

Fwhooooosh—!

A massive wave of flames pounced on Su-hyeun. These flames were so hot that the lava of the Hell of Scorching Heat came across as refreshingly cool in comparison.

[Earth Shrink Technique]

He had never deployed the Earth Shrink Technique in such a hurry like this before.

Thankfully, this was still inside his consciousness, which meant that he had full access to his skills and techniques.

He folded the space and landed on a spot not too far. He barely managed to evade the flames and patted his chest in relief, “If that managed to hit me dead-on, then…”

A fairly dangerous situation would’ve occurred.

That attack was far more dangerous than any other magic he had sensed up until now. Not only that, his defensive equipment like Kali’s Blood Armor would’ve been useless in this space, too.

“This fight probably would’ve tilted in one side’s favor.”

Slightly surprised, Su-hyeun stared at Britra.

He thought of saying hello since they were nominally acquaintances, but there wasn’t any discernible focus in Britra’s eyes.

It was more than likely that its ego had not been properly formed, but that couldn’t be helped.

“That’s not the real Britra, after all.”

The red dragon’s soul and ego were already contained within the Cintamani. The “Britra” before his eyes was nothing more than an empty shell, or maybe, the power it had left behind taking on a tangible form.

Now that he had taken a look at this generated form, he became sure of something. This was not some simple struggle between two flames.

No, it was a battle between the master of the divine Flame, Su-hyeun, and the original owner of the other flame, Britra.

The red dragon’s soul might have found its eternal rest within the Cintamani, but the same couldn’t be said for the power it used to possess.

This power lost its direction when it lost its master. This fire of intense heat, accumulated within Britra’s body throughout hundreds of millions of years, was a living entity by now.

And it was trying to devour Su-hyeun’s fire.

“I can’t allow that.”

Ruuumble—!

Su-hyeun’s sword was encased in flames.

Su-hyeun’s divine Flame had powered up significantly compared to the past. Even though his fire wasn’t created for a long time like Britra’s, he still relied on Predation to make the heat found in the Hell of Scorching Heat his own.

On top of that, thanks to the godhood Apollo had shared with him, Su-hyeun’s fire had reached the realm where he fully deserved the title of God of Fire quite some time ago.

“Your fire and mine…” Su-hyeun, for some reason, was beginning to enjoy this moment. “Which one will be hotter, I wonder?”

Grrrr—

Britra growled in answer to Su-hyeun’s question. Then…

Split—!

It opened its massive maw and got ready to fire another round of Breath in Su-hyeun’s direction.

Ruuumble—!

Along with the flames burning on Su-hyeun’s sword…

Fwhoooosh—!

Britra fired its Breath.

[Flame – Standard Slash]

[Breath]

And so, the moment those two collided…

KA-BOOOOOM—!

A humongous tempest of flames whipped up madly within Su-hyeun’s consciousness..