Seal
“Do you recognize your sins?”
The b.l.o.o.d.y white-haired man.
That man smiled as he supported his broken body with his pestle.
“…….How entertaining. To think I’d hear something like this from an idiot like you.. Ptui! The future really isn’t something you can predict.”
In front of the white-haired man was a black-haired man.
The black-haired man stared at the white haired man for a bit, then smiled.
“You’re actually pretty lucky to have met me, Pian Mu (便木).
The black-haired man took out a small talisman as he walked towards the white-haired man.
The white-haired man’s eyes narrowed.
“…….Sun Wukong, what the h.e.l.l are you trying to do?”
Sun Wukong.
He, who was the current lord of monsters, the one called the Monkey King, smirked, and spoke in a friendly tone.
“I can relate with you right now the most. You see, I was a bit of a troublemaker in the past.”
“…….Bulls.h.i.+t.”
“Well, that’s not all, really……. To be honest, I just can’t bear to see the next king of monsters die here.”
Paa-!
A bright light came out of the talisman, and the white-haired man was replaced by a small, cute rabbit.
[T, this is……]
“Kuku, as expected, the talismans made by Daode Tianzun really are effective. If only that old man would stop complaining for once.”
As Sun Wukong spoke to himself, the rabbit looked at its own two hands in confusion.
It observed its hands with a surprised expression.
Sun Wukong looked down at this rabbit as he stroked his beard, and spoke.
“You’re actually pretty cute, aren’t yah? Go live in the mortal world quietly for now. Since this uncle has bad memory, it would do well for you to stay quiet for just a thousand years.”
Crack- craack-!
The moment he said these words, the floor the rabbit was on began to crack.
White clouds could be seen below.
The rabbit began to fall.
Sun Wukong spoke as he watched the rabbit fall.
“Ah, yeah. If you get lucky and find a guy who renames you, you might get unsealed quicker. Have hope, cutie pie.”
The rabbit shouted in rage when it heard the word “cutie pie”.
[Sun Wukong! I will definitely kill you!]
“Puhehe, you’re 10,000 years too early for that. I’ll still wait, though.”
The rabbit.
He, who had been expelled out of heaven in the past, was having lots of fun at the moment.
[The mortal world is quite fun.]
Bang-! Baang-!
“Kuh!”
Un Hui trembled whenever the pestle was swung.
‘It’s this strong even when being parried……’
He wasn’t even taking a direct hit.
He was parrying the hits, but his shoulder felt like it was about to break.
Contrary to Un Hui, the rabbit was being extremely lax as of now.
It didn’t even have a tenth of its former power, but this was more than enough to take care of the person here.
It could take on several Harmonious people at once with this power.
Even so……
[Too weak.]
It was regretful.
The effect of having its power sealed for a long time affected its strength a lot.
It could feel that the G.o.dly Power inside it was not moving properly.
But it was still satisfied with what it got.
Strength would recover all in due time, anyway.
Baaang-!
With a giant sound, the man with the mask flew back a great distance.
The rabbit became surprised.
‘He took a direct hit on purpose?’
What was the reason?
He had purposefully pretended to ignore the man trying to parry his moves, but now the man took a direct hit.
‘He’s trying to do something.’
What would that be?
It became excited.
The rabbit waited.
What was the man trying to do?
Strangely enough, the man did not do anything.
The kid at the man’s back dropped down, and opened his mouth with a tired face.
“You can do whatever you want if you destroy this.”
The boy then took out a single gem, then stuck it in the ground.
The rabbit became alert.
Warning signs were ringing everywhere in its head.
‘That kid is dangerous.’
The kid was a rare sort that could use extremely powerful fields.
When it looked around, it could see that the surroundings were already filled with gems.
A chill ran down its back.
Vuun-!
An ominous feeling, and a strange vibration.
The rabbit quickly moved.
Pachichichi-!
[Kuh!]
With a loud sound, the rabbit struck the air and flew back.
It tried to leave before the field fully activated, but something powerful had blocked it.
[d.a.m.n it! Just when?]
Its area was extremely large.
A formation as large as this one could actually be dangerous.
When the rabbit began to condense energy once more, the kid adjusted the gla.s.s on his face and spoke coldly.
“Go back to your moon palace, crazy rabbit.”
[Shut up, kid.]
The rabbit gathered more energy.
‘I need to do this in one hit.’
It might work if it attacked now.
Vuun vuun vuun-!
The moment the rabbit focused enough energy into its pestle, the kid said something to the man with the mask.
Then, the masked man threw his dagger.
Pang-!
The red energy that was gathered at the tip of the dagger smashed into the rabbit’s face.
[Keh!]
The energy it gathered dissipated, and the rabbit glared at the masked man.
The kid then seemingly became confused, and asked a question.
“What? Did you really think I’d let you get out?”
[…….]
The rabbit made an astounded expression, then laughed.
Right.
There was no way they would wait for it.
Was it because it’s been too long? It looked like its senses were deteriorating.
Right then.
Paa-!
A bright light came out, and the rabbit disappeared.
Plop-
When Cho Ryu Hyang confirmed that the rabbit had disappeared, he fell on the ground with an exhausted face.
He tried to stay calm, but he was actually spending an astounding amount of mental energy just trying to stay standing.
‘But I did it.’
Cho Ryu Hyang had scattered various gems as Un Hui fought the rabbit.
There was no way to finish the formation due to the two moving so much, but when the rabbit stopped for a bit, Cho Ryu Hyang could complete the formation.
It was too complicated.
There were many, many variables to think about, but in the end, he did it.
‘Will it be able to break this, as well?’
Cho Ryu Hyang thought for a bit, then shook his head.
This formation was a variation of the Great Heavenly Ghost Formation, which was one of the strongest formations he knew of as of now.
It took a while to make, but it was impossible to destroy once the opponent became trapped.
This was the formation that the imperial palace currently was using after all.
‘But……’
Something weighed heavily on his mind.
Since the formation was created without thinking about the power of the enemy, he couldn’t predict the result.
Un Hui approached him.
“Don’t you think it would be better to leave?”
When Cho Ryu Hyang nodded, Un Hui narrowed his eyes and looked left.
‘Someone’s coming?’
Un Hui frowned, and tightened the grip on his dagger.
He quickly expanded his senses, and counted the presences nearing them.
‘One, two…. Three, four…….’
A total of twelve people.
Their speed was increasing as well.
They were martial artists.
“They seem to be people from the Emei Sect.”
Right.
This area was controlled by the Emei Sect.
There was no reason why they wouldn’t be moving.
Cho Ryu Hyang immediately stood up.
This was not the time to fight the Emei Sect.
They needed to leave.
“We need to leave.”
Cho Ryu Hyang nodded.
There was no need to provoke the other side.
Right then, Un Hui asked a question.
“What will you do with the Nine Lands Medicinal Flower?”
“The Medicinal Flower?”
“Yes. It’s a herb that only appears in legends.”
Cho Ryu Hyang thought for a bit.
The flower really was strange.
It seemed almost ethereal.
He had never seen an object with a blue number, either.
“Let’s take it.”
“Understood.”
Un Hui quickly brought Cho Ryu Hyang next to the herbal flower.
Cho Ryu Hyang nodded when he neared it.
“It would’ve been bad if we had just left.”
“Yes.”
A heavenly odor rose out of the flower.
The smell alone cleared the head, and made one relaxed.
Cho Ryu Hyang got off Un Hui’s back, and approached the flower.
But when he tried to touch the flower, he could feel the flower trembling.
The flower was avoiding his hands.
“Eh?”
When Cho Ryu Hyang paused.
Un Hui opened his mouth.
“They say that the Nine Lands Medicinal Flower actually has a consciousness of its own…… I did not expect the rumors to actually be true.”
Cho Ryu Hyang listened to Un Hui’s explanations, nodded, and made a light comment.
“You seem to know a lot about herbs.”
Un Hui made an awkward face, and answered.
“I studied a little about it in the past.”
Actually, he didn’t just study “little”.
His accomplishments when it came to medicine was enough to make Sunwu Jo Duk envious.
Un Hui didn’t really talk about that, though.
“Can’t we take it without killing it?”
Killing the flower seemed easy enough.
But Cho Ryu Hyang wasn’t really keen on killing things.
Un Hui realized this, thought a bit, then asked a question.
“Isn’t it strange that there are no trees in this area?”
Cho Ryu Hyang looked around.
He was right.
Why were there no trees around here?
He thought it was because of the effects of the formation, but that didn’t seem to be it.
The answer was simple.
“It means that the roots of the Nine Lands Medicinal Flower is just that big. It managed to absorb all the nutrients in the general area.”
“Mmm…….”
In other words, they had to kill the flower to take it.
Cho Ryu Hyang paused a bit, and sighed.
“Looks like I’ll need some time to think.”
He then threw a few stones around the general area.
“Come here.”
When Cho Ryu Hyang gestured with his hand, Un Hui came to him.
He could tell his master was trying to make a formation.
When Un Hui came out, Cho Ryu Hyang fiddled with a stone in his hand, and threw it to a strange place.
He threw it into the forest for some reason.
When Un Hui made a confused face.
Cho Ryu Hyang kicked a stone next to his feet.
Then, the empty field they were on just moments ago turned into a forest.
“Huh?”
When Un Hui widened his eyes and let out a breath in surprise, Cho Ryu Hyang spoke embarra.s.sedly.
“This was my first time trying this. I’m glad it worked well. Let’s leave.”
He tried this magic-like thing for the first time?
Un Hui looked at Cho Ryu Hyang as if he was looking at a monster, then came back to his senses. He immediately put the boy on his back.
Shuaa-!
Un Hui thought as he moved through the air.
Perhaps his master was much stronger than he thought…….
Un Hui felt the light weight at his back, and swore in his mind one more time.
‘I will guard you forever.’
He wanted to see just how far the child could go.
He would guard the child no matter what happened in the future.
Even if he had to sacrifice his own life…….
That was what Un Hui thought.