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Chapter 452: Chapter 452
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When Su-hyeun noticed that Hades, who was nowhere to be found in Hell, was standing here all fine, he wanted to ask about what happened back then, but he didnât get the chance.
Hades decided to leave right then.
Zeus spoke first, âThe greetings will have to be delayed for a little while.â
âOkay. I understand.â
The atmosphere here was quite different from before. Zeus, who came across as a kind neighborhood grandpa, stood tall with a serious face, not a trace of a smile visible anywhere on his expression.
âDid something happen?â Su-hyeun asked.
âNot just my older brother, but even you are quick to catch on, benefactor.â
âWell, the vibe in here is a little bit different from the last time, thatâs why.â
âIndeed, youâre correct. Iâm planning on a journey to find someone. Before all that, however, I believe you have a business with me, yes?â
âIâm sure youâre are aware of it.â
Su-hyeun recalled the faint voice he heard just before he blacked out.
[You have cleared the 201st floorâs trial.]
[You have acquired 1,000,000,000 points.]
[You can receive your clear reward from Zeus.]
âIâm here for my reward.â
The rest of the reward, excluding the points, were all with Zeus. Although it was rather cumbersome to come all the way here to receive them, it was also true that Su-hyeunâs anticipation had built up even more so. He couldnât wait to find out what kind of reward he would get from Zeus, one of the Five Godly Sages.
âYes. Yes, of course,â Zeus nodded and then extended his hand forward.
Su-hyeun hesitated slightly, wondering what was going on, but eventually, he grasped Zeusâs offered hand.
When he didâŠ
Fwhooooshâ!
âHeophâŠ!â Su-hyeun was stunned by the sensation transmitted through his palm and let go of Zeusâs hand before stumbling back one step. He hadnât been holding the latterâs hand too tightly, so it was easy to let go.
The sensation he got didnât feel disharmonious but unfamiliar nonetheless; something different from his own energy or power had traveled through his hand.
âPlease donât let go, and keep holding on,â said Zeus.
âUnderstood.â
No matter what, this was supposed to be the reward for the last trial, so it shouldnât be something that would harm him in the end.
Su-hyeun reached out and grabbed Zeusâs offered hand. It was at this point that something refreshing began entering him.
[You have acquired the âGodhood of Sky.â]
[The effects of âZeusâs Thunder Gloveâ are being strengthened.]
âGodhood of SkyâŠ?â
That was a completely unexpected reward. Never mind the surprising fact that the qualification of godhood could be handed over as a reward for a trial, Zeusâs state was a problem that shouldnât be ignored.
âIs it really alright to give me something like this?â
âIf it wasnât, I wouldnât have given it to you, benefactor,â Zeus faintly grinned when Su-hyeun asked worriedly.
He got a reward directly from one of the Five Godly Sages.
The thing was, though, a trial reward wasnât something created out of thin air. This was not some video game, so a reward payout had to be with âsomethingâ that already existed within the system.
Even if it was Zeus, he couldnât just grant godhood to anyone just because he felt like it. On top of that, it was the âGodhood of Sky,â which was basically one of the symbols of Zeus himself.
This could only mean that he was âyieldingâ one of his godhood to Su-hyeun.
âThe battle against Uranus is already over, anyway. Also, benefactor, you will need that power more than I in the near future.â
âMeaning, you want me to work even harder?â
âIs that how I sounded?â
âActually, it doesnât really matter. I have a feeling that thatâs how the future will unfold, anyway.â
He didnât deny it. Nothing had been concluded yet, after all.
No matter what happened, the massive event in Olympus was an incident limited to the confines of Olympus and nowhere else. Su-hyeunâs own war hadnât even begun yet.
âAnd with this, I can do it,â Su-hyeun thought.
He now had the Godhood of Sky.
He had been thinking about âsomethingâ even before acquiring this reward.
Just how big was the gap between himself and Fafnir? If it was the version of Fafnir that he saw through the Bull Demon Kingâs vision, then he felt that his odds of victory were better than great.
But just as Su-hyeun was getting stronger pretty quickly, so was Fafnir after returning to the past through the Heavenly Ways of Reincarnation.
It was impossible to estimate how fast the growth rate of Fafnir was, so it was only apparent that Su-hyeun didnât feel confident of his chances. No, more than that, he even felt some vague, indescribable anxiety.
In percentage terms, it would only be fifty-fifty.
But nowâŠ
âI can win.â
He was certain about this.
He carefully calculated over and over again, yet the odds of his victory were well over 90% percent. Maybe that was why he felt an intense satisfaction after acquiring his new power, which hadnât happened in quite a while.
âIt seems that you rather like this reward, benefactor.â
âIâm sorry. Was I that obvious?â
âNo need to apologize. Compared to the grace youâve shown to Olympus, this level of reward is nothing to boast about. AlsoâŠIâm not all that hung up on the title of one of the Five Godly Sages, you see.â
It seemed like Zeus could no longer remain as one of the Five Godly Sages after losing the Godhood of Sky.
Su-hyeun felt a little apologetic about that, but that didnât mean he was thinking of rejecting the reward.
âAre you planning to head to the next floor right away, benefactor? If you wish, I can start the 202nd floorâs trial right away from here.â
When Zeus said that, Su-hyeun quickly waved his hand to say, âNo, itâs fine. I must get back home for now, anyway.â
He ended up spending too much time in Olympus. No one knew when Fafnir would return to Earth, and he was getting a feeling that he needed to stay home for the time being, at least for a little while.
But thenâŠ
âIn that case, I donât think youâll need to worry, benefactor.â
Su-hyeun made a puzzled face at that.
Zeusâs own expression was quite mischievous, however. He even burst into a peal of laughter. When Su-hyeun asked for more clarification, Zeus simply shook his head and replied, âYouâll see when you get back home.â
âIâll see, you say?â
âYes. As such, I would personally recommend that you challenge the 202nd floorâs trial right away in this place. And Iâm saying this in no uncertain terms, either.â
Just what could be happening back home? Su-hyeun mulled over the possibilities for a bit, but nothing came to mind for now.
He nodded again after a brief moment of pondering. âI shall do as you say,â he finally said.
âYou made the wise decision, benefactor.â
Shu-wuwuwuâ
Su-hyeunâs figure soon blurred, and the familiar voice entered his head.
[The 202nd floorâs trial is commencing.]
Just as Su-hyeunâs view blurred, Su-hyeun heard Zeusâs voice over the systemâs announcement, âI pray that you succeed in your goal.â
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The skies above were densely packed with clouds.
The expansive forest below spread out seemingly infinitely. The only sign of civilization visible within the trees tightly packing this forest was a small thatched-roof house.
âFirst Brother! Itâs mealtime!â
A booming voice loudly rang within the forest.
The powerful wild predators found in this forest woke up from their siesta at that voice. Still, they soon recognized who that voice belonged to and went back to sleep as if to say that they didnât hear anything.
But that made some sense; several wild beasts failed to rein in their instincts just because that voice got on their nerves and had rushed toward the owner of said voice already. Such things happened a few times by now, and every single time, the end result hadnât been a nice one for the beasts.
âYouâre noisy. Canât you see that youâve rudely woken up those who were enjoying their sleep?â
âWell, if they try to attack me, I can just kick their asses again, right?â
âEven though youâre spending your time with Buddha, your personality just doesnât want to change, it seems.â
A man with a tall stature opened the houseâs door and stepped outside. A pair of small horns protruded from his head. He was none other than the Bull Demon King, and he was walking in a leisurely manner.
Tasty deer meat was being roasted in the middle of the front yard.
âFirst Brother, hurry and take your share. If you donât, I might eat everything by myself.â
âBut are you going to be satisfied with that amount?â
An entire deer was being cooked, an adult one at that. No matter how healthy you were, this amount of meat should still be too much for only two people to finish.
Despite that, the Bull Demon King asked anyway since he knew how much of a glutton Sun Wukong was.
Never mind a whole deer, Sun Wukong could normally devour an entire tiger in one sitting, and he still wouldnât feel full afterward.
âBuddha told me not to kill if itâs at all possible, so I only caught this one. As for the rest, well, Iâll just munch on some grass or something.â
âI see. So thatâs why you didnât kill those wild beasts and just chased them away.â
âWell, yes, something like that. Anyways, letâs dig in,â Sun Wukong handed over the thigh meat of the deer to the Bull Demon King. He accepted the meat with his pure, unblemished hand and then brought the meat to his mouth.
The taste of the deer meat, with its rich oil dripping from it, was quite delectable. Sun Wukong eagerly dug into the meat and even began licking his fingers clean off the juicy oil.
Once the meatâs quantity had been diminished by some degree, he spoke, âFirst Brother, Iâm really getting itchy here, you know?â
âIndeed, you arenât really suited for this type of lifestyle.â
The two of them started living in this forest recently. The reason for that was fairly simpleâto curb Sun Wukongâs violent tendencies as much as possible.
Sun Wukong loved to fight. He enjoyed it so much that he even earned the title of âVictorious Fighting Buddha.â
But after he asked Buddha for extra strength and became the latterâs Apostle, he ended up receiving a truly simple-sounding order.
âYou must kill as little as possible and avoid conflict.â
That order indeed seemed a simple one. Anyone couldâve easily followed it, even if they werenât as strong as Sun Wukong.
However, in practice, everyone would find such an order quite hard to pull off successfully.
âI mean, where in the world can you find humans and Yogoes who donât kill or fight, like, forever?!â
Sun Wukong wasnât saying that simply because he was a violent being.
Any living person would have to kill to live. Since time immemorial, humans consumed animal meat. To do so, they had to kill.
The matter of handling a âconflictâ was also rather similar.
It would be uncommon to find a person who had never thrown a punch out of anger. Worse still, having something as trivial as a verbal altercation, a quarrel even, fell under the bigger framework of âconflict,â too.
Not only that, conflicts and killings were far easier to commit for Yogoes than regular humans.
Unlike humans that had strict rules regarding murder, Yogoes killing other Yogoes was an obvious thing.
And to Sun Wukong the Victorious Fighting Buddha, heâŠ
âStill, youâve done well to endure, little brother.â
âFirst Brother, I have to say, you look very much at peace right now.â
âMmâŠThis kind of lifestyle isnât so bad.â
âIn that case, why didnât you help out your little brother and hunt another deer or something? I mean, we end up sharing the catch, anyway.â đ»đ»đâŻđžđŠđđđžđżđźđ.đđ°đ¶
âI only ate a thigh. Havenât you gobbled up the rest all by yourself? Besides, I donât mind filling myself up with wild berries or some other fruits.â
âAre you really gonna be like this? So uptight and all?â
âYou already know Buddhaâs command of refraining from taking a life is part of your training, donât you? Seeking my help to circumvent the guilt of taking lives will only serve to dilute the purpose of your training.â
âUrghâŠâ Sun Wukong didnât have anything to retort with, so he shut his mouth and lowered his head.
Honestly speaking, he too knew that.
The Bull Demon King was the type to never offer his help to his siblings for some insignificant matters. The only times he would step up would be when Sun Wukongâs abilities were simply not enough or when great harm might befall his brothers.
However, the current situation was neither of those.
Refraining from taking a life was always an issue of Sun Wukongâs determination, and this âtrial,â as bestowed by Buddha, was part of the overall plan to grow Sun Wukongâs willpower.
âUrgh. I wonder, does âheâ even know that his Third Brother is working this hardâŠ?â
âDonât worry. You will soon meet him again.â
Although what the Bull Demon King said just then sounded like nothing more than some cheap lip service, Sun Wukongâs expression still changed a great deal.
He wouldnât have paid any attention if someone else said the same thing, but it was different now since the Bull Demon King had said it.
Not once in their lives did the latter say something that sounded like lip service. Actually, the Bull Demon King didnât even know the meaning of that term.
âWait a minute, how do you know that, First Brother?â
âDidnât Buddha say anything to you?â
âWell, that dude is a strong silent type, so not really. But, uh, why mention Buddha all of a suddenâ?â
Whooshâ
A breeze blew by just then, and Sun Wukong stopped his sentence there. He frozeâa clear sign that he was flustered.
The Bull Demon King smiled faintly and turned his head in the direction where that wind came from.
âFirst Brother, could it beâŠ?â
âHave you already forgotten?â
âAreâŠare you being serious?â Sun Wukong shot up from his spot.
His emotions began running wild; he couldnât hold himself and was about to rush ahead, only for him to hear footsteps coming from beyond the dense foliage.
Stepâ
âNo need to go out of your way to welcome me, Wukong.â
It was an unforgettable voice.
And thenâŠ
âOld man.â
An unforgettable face, too.
An old man used his long pole to lift up the corner of his large conical bamboo hat and then raised his voice, âHave you been well, Wukong?â
This old man took both Sun Wukong and the Bull Demon King under his wings and taught them the Sage Arts.
He was the 10th disciple of Buddha and the progenitor of the Sage Arts.
He was none other than Master Subhuti..