28. No Wonder I Wanted to Kill Him
It was a striking contrast.
The giant remained as expressionless as ever. Sun Wukong, on the other hand, wore a smile.
But they shared one thing in common. If you looked into their eyes, they were the same.
Hostility.
Their gazes became blades, aimed at each other.
Sun Wukong stared at the giant for a long moment.
That sticky, almost tangible red thread between them was clear—and repulsive.
Suddenly, Sun Wukong felt his heart pound.
He was always honest with his emotions. If he disliked something, he showed it. If he liked it, he showed that too.
That didn’t mean he was ruled by his feelings.
Well, maybe when he was younger.
Back then, he acted on every whim. He turned the Heavenly Realm upside down, and rampaged through the Mortal World without a care.
—The fact that you can’t hide your emotions is one of your best qualities, Wukong. But remember this. It’s not your heart that should move your mind and body—you must be the one in control. Remember, you are the purest being, born from the harmony of all things.
Tripitaka, that guy.
All he ever did was get kidnapped and cry his eyes out.
Still, he was considered one of the smartest humans in the Mortal World, and sometimes, he said things worth listening to.
Sun Wukong pushed the memory aside and cracked his knuckles.
“I don’t know what your past life was, or what kind of bad blood we had…”
His words trailed off.
The emotion rising within him was disgust. Utter revulsion. Clear hostility.
Even more intense than what he’d felt when he met the Blood-Iron Fiend.
Sun Wukong let that feeling run wild.
He wouldn’t be swept away by it. Sometimes, anger draws out even greater strength.
He would control his emotions completely.
“Better keep your past life hidden.”
Sun Wukong grinned.
“Otherwise, I might just beat you until your very soul is torn apart.”
The giant, still expressionless, pointed his sword.
“There’s a limit to how much nonsense I’m willing to listen to.”
“Whatever the case, you must’ve died by my hand in your past life. I’ll start by apologizing. Having to kill someone I already killed once… That’s your karma.”
Sun Wukong reached out. From the red dot forming at his fingertip, Demonic Power began to swirl like smoke, wrapping around his hand and up his arm to his shoulder.
It looked as if he was wreathed in flames—or shrouded in a blood-red veil.
For the first time, a faint crack appeared in the giant’s stoic face.
Both were ready. The hostility was unmistakable. The only conclusion was a clash.
The giant’s broadsword was long and wide. Its arc was huge—and fast. He didn’t defend with perfect form, but attacked boldly and swiftly, leaving no openings.
Whoosh, whoosh-whoosh!
A dark aura rippled from the blade. A single touch would be deadly.
“Then I just won’t get hit, right?”
Sun Wukong laughed as he dodged.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
The blade’s aura brushed past Sun Wukong by a hair’s breadth.
“Whoa, oops!”
Sun Wukong let out playful exclamations, moving his body as if dancing.
He looked just like a drunk who couldn’t keep his balance.
Ripples began to spread across the giant’s face.
No matter how cold and detached he was, he couldn’t possibly fail to realize he was being mocked.
Sun Wukong cackled as he watched the giant’s increasingly twisted expression.
“Relax your face, man. You look even more pitiful with that ugly scowl.”
“……”
Whoosh!
The blade barely grazed Sun Wukong’s waist. The giant swallowed dryly. He was sure he’d landed a hit. But Sun Wukong suddenly appeared behind him and smacked him on the back of the head.
Smack! The giant’s head jerked violently. Sun Wukong grabbed his wrist and shouted, in a tone that could’ve been admiration or mockery:
“Damn, your head’s hard as a rock. Seriously.”
“Ugh!”
The giant’s face twisted in disbelief. He’d never imagined he’d get hit on the back of the head in a life-or-death duel. He’d always been called a stone-faced man, devoid of emotion. Even so, deep inside, a wave of shock, confusion, and then humiliation crashed over him, making his body tremble.
He didn’t even have the luxury of feeling emotions. There was no time to shiver in shame.
Sun Wukong’s voice boomed like thunder.
“Right side!”
“……!”
Now he understood what Sun Wukong was shouting.
He was announcing which cheek he was about to slap.
Telling your opponent where you’re going to hit before you strike?
Well, a slap isn’t exactly a martial form, but still.
The giant felt a desperate urgency, as if he had to defend against a deadly technique.
He clenched his teeth. Internal Qi surged from his core. Every sense sharpened to a razor’s edge. He tensed and twisted his muscles.
‘Dodge, then cut his wrist.’
The giant’s broadsword came crashing down from above.
Smack! The giant’s eyes flew wide open. A burning pain flared on his left cheek. Not the right. He’d been slapped on the same side again, completely unexpectedly. His neck twisted, and he glared at Sun Wukong out of the corner of his eye.
“Oh, you gullible guy. You fell for that?”
Sun Wukong doubled over with laughter. If this weren’t a fight, he’d be rolling on the floor.
The giant’s whole body shook with humiliation rising from his spine.
“You bastard…”
“Ah, was I too loud? Sorry, I’ll shut my mouth and fight properly.”
“What…?”
Before he could finish his question, Sun Wukong’s fist slammed into his gut.
The giant’s eyes bulged. He couldn’t even groan. Before he could utter a sound, Sun Wukong’s fists rained down mercilessly.
His fists, wreathed in blood-red energy, were relentless.
The giant had raised his Body-Protecting Hard Qi to defend himself, but was shocked to find it did nothing to lessen the pain.
“Ugh, urgh.”
He swung his broadsword in retaliation, tried to evade with Footwork Technique, did everything he could to escape—but it was all futile.
Shuddering, the giant realized the truth. This fight had been decided from the start. Sun Wukong had been toying with him from the beginning, treating him like a plaything.
The giant accepted it. He couldn’t win. His only chance was to escape alive.
He bit his lip hard. The taste of blood filled his mouth. His eyes burned red. Lava surged from his core.
Suddenly, Sun Wukong’s relentless barrage of punches stopped.
“Oh? What’s this?”
A dry chuckle escaped him.
Sun Wukong stepped back slightly, watching the giant’s transformation.
“Pulling the same trick as the Blood-Iron Fiend, huh?”
The Blood-Iron Fiend had done the same.
For a brief moment, when cornered, his energy had exploded.
But under Sun Wukong’s merciless assault, that surge of power had been crushed before it could go anywhere.
The giant, though, was different.
‘Is this potential? It feels like he’s breaking some inner lock.’
Energy swirled around the giant, as if he stood at the center of a storm. His Internal Qi filled the entire area.
It was an unusual technique. But Sun Wukong didn’t just stand there admiring it.
In that instant, he peered into the giant’s soul with his Flaming Golden Eyes.
Just like with the Blood-Iron Fiend, the moment that inner lock was broken, the giant’s soul became clear.
As expected…
“……”
A faint smile appeared on Sun Wukong’s lips.
“You…”
Through the Flaming Golden Eyes, he saw the giant’s past life.
Bulging muscles, a shaggy beard, a grotesque, nauseating grin.
A demon. He was a demon. Sun Wukong laughed.
“No wonder… I wanted to kill you so badly.”
Sun Wukong followed the Non-killing Principle.
Partly because of Tripitaka’s influence, and partly because he himself was a Buddha.
But at the same time, he was a Judge.
He judged and destroyed evil and demons.
There was only one time he ever harbored a true killing intent.
When he faced an evil he could never forgive.
When had it started?
The higher-ups in the Heavenly Realm thought Sun Wukong became a Judge after learning from Tripitaka.
But Sun Wukong saw it differently.
It was when he first realized the violence within himself.
That guy.
The first time he felt such intense rage, the first time he killed a demon.
That was probably the moment he awakened as a Judge.
‘While I was away, he killed my monkeys, plundered them, and enslaved them.’
He saw the demon’s soul.
“Demon King of Chaos, you bastard. You’re mine now.”
A cruel smile twisted Sun Wukong’s lips.
*
Demon Index
Name: Demon King of Chaos
Type: Bear Demon
Martial Strength: Celestial Soldier, Captain-class
Demonic Power: High-level Demon
Cause of Death: Torn apart by Sun Wukong’s clones, skull split open by his own stolen broadsword.
*
He felt Demonic Power writhing in his core. He raised it slowly, by will, by intent. Sun Wukong’s unique Mental Cultivation, honed to a razor’s edge, responded to the giant’s Internal Qi, baring its fangs.
His hair rippled, and the world was bathed in gold.
Within the golden light, red Demonic Power flowed, tinged with blood.
The compressed red dot at Sun Wukong’s fingertip grew larger.
Blood-red smoke surrounded him, and in an instant, the giant’s Internal Qi, which had filled the area, was devoured.
At Sun Wukong’s center, the Domain of True Emptiness spread.
“I’ve got a name for this.”
All the giant’s energy was swept away by the intense vacuum and vanished.
“……!”
Nothingness.
He was drawn into a space of pure emptiness. There was no escape, like sinking into a swamp.
A Great Demon, one of the Seven Great Sages, king of demons—Sun Wukong felt a strange irony.
A Great Demon who kills demons.
Sun Wukong nodded.
“Since I destroy demons with Demonic Power, I’ll call it the Demon-Slaying Skill.”
The Demon-Slaying Skill blazed in response.
Sun Wukong’s fist was charged with its power.
The giant—no, the Demon King of Chaos—who had been rampaging with energy from his core, suddenly froze.
Sun Wukong’s fist shot out in a straight line, carving a path of True Emptiness. All of the Demon King of Chaos’s energy was sucked away and vanished.
His face twisted in horror. Sun Wukong’s fist crashed into him.
“I’ve got a lot of questions, so I’ll just make sure you can still talk.”
He wouldn’t kill him. At least, not yet.
*
The Demon King of Chaos lost consciousness. As Sun Wukong withdrew his blood-dripping fist, hurried footsteps approached from behind.
“Ah…”
It was Muhwa. Not just her—several Namgung Clan warriors were with her.
Sun Wukong looked at them and spoke.
“This guy targeted the Azure Hero Society. He’s probably the boss of the Black Path.”
Muhwa silently examined the fallen Demon King of Chaos.
His face was so caved in, it was unrecognizable.
It was a wonder he was still breathing. The precision was impressive—he’d left him alive, but smashed his face. Muhwa swallowed nervously and looked at Sun Wukong.
There was no trace of his usual playful grin. He looked unusually serious.
“Do you know this man?”
“We knew each other in a past life. Not so much this time.”
“What?”
“Yeah, we’re strangers now.”
Meanwhile, a Namgung Clan warrior checked the giant and his eyes widened.
“Isn’t this… Honam Island?”
“Honam Island?”
Muhwa gasped.
“That long scar on his chest. Isn’t that the wound the Plum Blossom Swordsman from Mt. Hua Sect gave him during the Great War of Righteousness and Evil?”
Muhwa’s gaze sharpened.
“He’s back in the martial world?”
The Evil Faction Alliance had been destroyed.
And this man had once been one of their officers.
Why had he appeared here? And Sun Wukong, who had left him in this state…
Muhwa whipped her head toward Sun Wukong.
He just shrugged.
“Sounds like he was a notorious villain.”
“He was infamous.”
“Good. That means I don’t have to worry.”
“……?”
“Now there’s nothing to worry about. Instead of trying to steal the Azure Hero Society’s assets, I saved them from being annihilated by a villain.”
“……!”
Surprise flashed across Muhwa’s face.
Sun Wukong spoke in a casual tone.
“Do you think the Azure Hero Society, so thoroughly ruined, can hold onto their assets? Maybe they need to hand them over to rebuild.”
He smiled lightly.
Muhwa trembled.
‘…Was this his plan all along?’
There was an indescribable light in her eyes as she looked at Sun Wukong.