The Terminally Ill Young Master of the Baek Clan-Chapter 462: Great Sage Equal To Heaven (4)

Yi-gang was falling.

If not for the barrier, that sight would have been clearly visible from dozens of kilometers away.

Wrapped in fire, Yi-gang had encased his body with several treasures.

He looked like a blazing comet.

Or like a heavenly god descending to punish the earth.

Sun Wukong had flung Yi-gang into the sky himself, but the consequence came right back to him.

Like that.

In the form of Yi-gang, wrapped in treasures, descending while carrying the physical force of the fall.

The best response to an attack like that was, of course, ‘evasion.’

So could he just dodge?

Sun Wukong, who had fought Nezha before, knew well that wasn’t the answer.

The Nine-Dragon Holy Fire Cover.

That ancient treasure effectively created a domain.

Bars of the Nine-Dragon Holy Fire Cover began to sprout around Sun Wukong’s body.

Trying to dodge would only get him tangled up. He had to block it here.

“Fire-Tipped Spear…!”

Once activated, it exerted its sure-hit effect.

That treasure spear made of flame had destructive and penetrative power beyond even the Ruyi Staff.

It would have power that couldn’t be compared to the original meteorite-iron sword.

Sun Wukong drew a deep breath.

He expanded the domain that manifested Water Curtain Cave to its utmost.

Yi-gang, falling fast, entered that range.

At the same time, the surrounding air vented white steam as it vaporized.

Even as he neared the ground, his speed didn’t slow at all.

Sun Wukong grit his teeth.

He enlarged the Ruyi Staff to a proper size, the limit of what he could grip with both hands.

Instead, he increased its weight to the utmost. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

To the weight of an entire mountain peak.

They were close enough to meet eyes.

Flame and the Red Armillary Sash interwove, as if wings had sprouted from Yi-gang’s back.

Yi-gang thrust out the Fire-Tipped Spear.

And it collided with Sun Wukong’s Ruyi Staff.

Light flashed.

The shockwave born of the two gigantic powers clashing compressed the air to the extreme in an instant, and burned it.

The air was sucked in and then expanded, creating a momentary vacuum.

There should have been a massive explosion and thunder, but because of that, it was quiet.

The Qiankun Ring circling Yi-gang rotated silently.

The shockwave that was about to spread was absorbed into Yi-gang’s Fire-Tipped Spear, as if time were rewinding.

Kiiik, kiiikiik-

One of the Qiankun Ring’s effects was concentrating force.

Even the shockwave and the sound of impact were concentrated at the weapon’s point.

The tip of the Fire-Tipped Spear and the Ruyi Staff locked together in a contest of strength.

Sun Wukong’s staff began to get pushed back.

The force was so strong that even on one knee, he was shoved backward.

The ground gouged, leaving a long furrow.

Kakak!

Sparks burst.

Yi-gang’s Fire-Tipped Spear pierced Sun Wukong’s shoulder.

Even after piercing his shoulder, the Fire-Tipped Spear didn’t vanish.

The flames still blazed, but when he tried to grab and pull it out, he couldn’t touch it.

Meanwhile, Yi-gang was freed.

The treasure Fire-Tipped Spear was still lodged in Sun Wukong, but Shooting Star Fang, which had served as the medium, was instead free.

Yi-gang pointed his sword at Sun Wukong once more.

The Red Armillary Sash fluttered around him, and the Qiankun Ring rotated slowly.

He was at full readiness.

But what about Sun Wukong?

From the shoulder pierced by the Fire-Tipped Spear, flesh sizzled as smoke rose.

Pain and rage made his ferocity look ready to explode.

The swollen muscles across his body repeatedly rippled and twitched.

Just as Yi-gang was about to swing again.

Sun Wukong raised a hand.

The bristling fur slowly settled.

“I lost. I lost.”

The Ruyi Staff slipped from his hand and clattered across the ground.

Yi-gang stood still, sword in hand.

His shoulders rose and fell slowly with his breathing.

After a brief silence like that, he slowly lowered his sword.

The fluttering Red Armillary Sash drooped, and the Qiankun Ring stopped rotating as well.

Sun Wukong let out a sigh.

‘Since I can’t take this all the way…’

He was someone born with an instinct for battle.

He wanted to see it through to the end, but he barely held himself back.

He had wanted to test Yi-gang. He hadn’t fought to kill him.

With his sword lowered, Yi-gang spoke calmly.

“You knelt on one knee.”

“Just now.”

Sun Wukong looked down at his knee.

His left knee was caked with dirt.

A moment ago, while blocking Yi-gang’s fall, he had been pushed back and dropped to one knee.

“Promise.”

‘Annoying bastard.’ Sun Wukong thought in that moment.

Hadn’t he already said he lost?

But the truly annoying one was someone else.

「We won!」

A blue boy suddenly stuck himself out over Yi-gang’s shoulder.

It was Nezha’s form.

After seeing treasures like the Red Armillary Sash, the Qiankun Ring, and the Fire-Tipped Spear, there was no way not to recognize Nezha’s presence.

「We won, you monkey bastard!」

Nezha hopped around in front of them, rejoicing.

In the end, he couldn’t hold it in and started dancing.

Nezha dancing between Yi-gang and Sun Wukong was almost surreal.

「I won!」

“Why is it you who won, you blue bastard!”

At Nezha’s words, Sun Wukong finally couldn’t hide his anger.

“You grabbed one human and lent him a pile of treasures from behind…”

「Puhaha! The loser sure talks a lot. If he hadn’t stopped, your head would’ve flown off!」

“Bullshit!”

「If I’m talking bullshit, then you’re talking monkey shit! Kneeling in front of a human like that. So ugly even your Nimbus Cloud left you, didn’t it?!」

The two of them snarled at each other like true sworn enemies.

Yi-gang’s expression turned strange.

He’d thought Nezha and Sun Wukong being archenemies would be like the Heavenly Demon and Zhang Sanfeng.

Instead, the lofty heavenly gods were acting like children.

“Want to go again?!”

「Fine! Let’s finish it!」

They said that and looked at Yi-gang.

Of course, Yi-gang didn’t nod.

He sheathed his sword and made a face that said, ‘So what?’

“…Ptui!”

Sun Wukong spat onto the ground.

He looked like a true degenerate.

“You seem to know me. What was that about Jinin Zhang Sanfeng and Master Bodhidharma?”

Yi-gang brought up what had been bothering him.

‘I don’t know what Zhang Sanfeng and Bodhidharma were thinking. To make a gamble like that for a punk like this!’

Sun Wukong had definitely said that.

“Yeah. I did.”

“I’ve known Zhang Sanfeng for a long time. As for that monk Bodhidharma, I’d only heard of him. But not long ago, the two came together.”

This meant that Bodhidharma and Zhang Sanfeng had gone together to see Sun Wukong.

Yi-gang’s eyes widened. It was shocking enough that they had even met each other.

Bodhidharma had ascended after becoming a dragon, and Zhang Sanfeng had hidden with the Heavenly Demon, avoiding the Heavenly Realm’s eyes.

“They asked me to help you.”

Sun Wukong picked up the Ruyi Staff and shrank it.

He stored the staff, now smaller than a needle, in his ear, and spoke.

“In exchange for accepting, I set a condition.”

Then he gestured for Yi-gang to follow.

“I said I’d decide after testing whether you were worth betting on.”

And as for that test.

It seemed that Yi-gang had just passed it.

The sound of droplets falling from stalactites.

And the footsteps of Yi-gang and Sun Wukong.

“To be honest, this Teacher Son didn’t care what those Evil Cult bastards were plotting.”

Sun Wukong said it with a shrug.

“Even so, I decided to hear Zhang Sanfeng and Bodhidharma out purely because it interested me. First.”

A cloud rose above Sun Wukong’s finger.

The cloud gathered into the shape of the number one.

“I’m curious about those old lords.”

“You mean the Cardinals?”

“Yeah. That’s what you call them now. They’re very old humans. They say humans weren’t as weak as they are now, long ago.”

“Is that so?”

“Yeah. And they were kings of humans back then, so they should be fairly strong. As the greatest king of past and present, I also want to cross hands with them once.”

「Greatest king, my ass. At best, you’re just the boss of monkeys.」

Nezha often sniped at Sun Wukong like that.

At first, Sun Wukong would explode, but in the end, he kept ignoring him.

“Second, those people are placing strange hopes on you.”

The subject was Yi-gang.

Yi-gang met Sun Wukong’s eyes.

“Yeah. Your level is not low, and you’re not an ordinary human. But when you ask whether you actually have a chance, the answer is no.”

“It isn’t just me.”

“Yeah. Even if you throw all those humans in, it’s the same.”

He was saying it was a fight with no chance.

It didn’t shake him, but he couldn’t help being curious.

“Then why did you decide to help?”

“Because both Zhang Sanfeng and Bodhidharma seemed to have something they believed in. They wouldn’t tell me, so I accepted because I wanted to see it with my own eyes.”

In the end, he accepted and chose to help Yi-gang purely out of curiosity.

It was true that Sun Wukong moved only for his interest and greed.

“And it’s not a lie that a dragon was the reason I blocked you.”

Sun Wukong stopped in the inner part of the cave.

And before them was something like an opaque membrane that you couldn’t see through.

Sun Wukong tapped it with his hand.

Koong-koong-

“It’s a barrier. The dragon set it. When I asked for the dragon pearl, it hid.”

“…So it really is true that you tried to take a dragon’s dragon pearl.”

“Don’t misunderstand. Would a normal dragon’s dragon pearl catch the eye of this Great Sage Equal to Heaven? No.”

“Then why…”

“Because it isn’t a normal dragon. It’s a Yinglong.”

「Yinglong!」

Nezha suddenly shrieked.

「Why is a Yinglong here!」

Yi-gang had heard of a Yinglong as well.

A dragon among dragons. They said a dragon that lived over ten thousand years would grow wings and become a Yinglong.

It was also a legendary dragon said to have slain Chiyou under the command of the Yellow Emperor.

Then why was a Yinglong hiding in a small mountain in Namman.

From the look of it, Nezha didn’t know either.

“How would I know? Zhang Sanfeng was the one who told me.”

「And how did that Zhang Sanfeng find out?」

“Bodhidharma told him. That we should get the dragon pearl from the Yinglong.”

What had Bodhidharma and Zhang Sanfeng prepared together?

It didn’t seem that Sun Wukong shouting for the dragon pearl had been mere greed for a treasure.

「So… what did the Yinglong say.」

“Can’t you see?”

Sun Wukong tapped the barrier again.

“It ignored me completely. I almost smashed it with the Ruyi Staff, but I held back.”

「Of course it would…」

To a dragon, a dragon pearl was as precious as its own life.

Even if you barged in and demanded it, there was no way it would hand it over.

“It looks like we can’t go this way. The dragon pearl’s a lost cause too.”

Even the almighty Sun Wukong seemed to have given up in the end.

And it was the moment Yi-gang, without thinking, placed his hand on the barrier.

Following his hand, the barrier opened.

When he pulled away, the opening sealed shut again.

It felt like it meant to let only Yi-gang in.

Yi-gang spoke.

“First, I’ll gather the Forest’s disciples. Then I’ll go in once.”

A brief silence.

“Y-yeah.”

Sun Wukong nodded.