Yi-gang raised a finger and pointed at himself.

It was a gesture that said, ‘Me?’

They said the monkey before them was an avatar of the Great Sage Equal to Heaven.

“Yeah, you!”

“Have we met before?”

“…We have not met!”

hey’d never met, so why was it acting like it knew him?

Yi-gang first looked back at his companions, especially Jin Mu and Seon Woo-hwi, who said they had fought the Great Sage Equal to Heaven’s avatar.

“You said it couldn’t talk.”

“No. It definitely couldn’t talk before.”

“…Were you just being ignored?”

“No way. I even put a hole through its chest, and I didn’t hear a single word.”

Jin Mu and Seon Woo-hwi must have watched that avatar for quite a while.

Had the avatar that couldn’t speak suddenly become able to speak.

「That one is a mid-grade avatar made with a bit of effort.」

Nezha said it calmly.

‘Didn’t you just say it was a low-grade avatar that couldn’t speak?’

「You must have heard wrong.」

Even though he had clearly said it, Nezha lied shamelessly.

「Anyway, it’s certainly nothing more than an avatar. Are you going to shame me in front of something like that?」

“What are you talking about?”

Dam Hyun spoke curtly.

「I’m saying, act like you have pride!」

Nezha snapped at Dam Hyun.

It was so sudden that even Dam Hyun’s eyes went wide.

Nezha had clearly become sensitive ever since Sun Wukong came up.

“…Anyway, let’s go and see.”

Either way, the Azure Forest strike force needed to pass through Gonggu Mountain.

And since the one blocking them was that Great Sage Equal to Heaven, they would have to do something, negotiate, fight, anything.

The group stepped out from behind the rock and walked forward slowly.

Sun Wukong’s avatar still stood there with its arms hanging down.

An avatar would resemble its original.

It was not that tall. Huge for a monkey, but about the height of an ordinary man.

Its posture was proud, and its eyes were wide and intense.

Nezha, walking beside them, sneered at Sun Wukong’s avatar.

「That thing can’t see me. An avatar can’t use the Golden Pupils Fiery Eyes.」

For some reason, Nezha had been hiding behind Dam Hyun, but only then did he step forward.

“Stop.”

The avatar halted the group.

They stopped for the moment.

The avatar was staring straight through Yi-gang, and Yi-gang was in front, so Yi-gang responded.

“Son… Great Sage Equal to Heaven.”

Sun Wukong was born as a stone monkey yokai from Mount Huaguo.

His origin may have been ordinary for a beast yokai, but his life was not.

His innate divine power was enough to overwhelm all yokai.

Once he grew and learned Taoist arts, his spellcraft surpassed any Taoist.

In the end, he stormed the Heavenly Realm, knocked down a dragon, and even fought and defeated Erlang Shen and Nezha.

And the post he gained in the Heavenly Realm was Great Sage Equal to Heaven.

“We are disciples of the Azure Forest and the Guardian Gate.”

The avatar didn’t answer and listened quietly.

“The Evil Cult’s rabble is harming people and throwing the lower world into chaos. They mean to commit the evil of killing countless people. We intend to strike them and stop their plot.”

The Great Sage Equal to Heaven was a violent yokai, but he was someone who grew enough to become a Buddha in the end.

He was not someone who liked evil deeds, so perhaps he would allow it.

「What kind of bullshit that idiot’s Journey to the West spread.」

Nezha mocked.

Then was Sun Wukong, in truth, far from anything good.

“So, we wish to pass through Gonggu Mountain. Great Sage Equal to Heaven, we would be grateful if you would permit our passage.”

Yi-gang cupped his fists politely.

The avatar looked at Yi-gang with eyes that revealed no emotion.

Then it spoke.

When Yi-gang lifted his head, it was pointing behind itself with its thumb, gesturing for him to go in.

It did not sound like permission to pass through Gonggu Mountain. Was it telling him to go in first?

Yi-gang briefly looked over the group.

There was no reason to refuse.

It was the moment they tried to pass by the avatar.

The avatar, which had not reacted until Yi-gang passed, moved.

“I told you not to approach.”

It glared as if it remembered Jin Mu.

“No, didn’t you just tell us to go past…”

“How dare you ignore my warning.”

Only Yi-gang had been permitted to pass.

The avatar bared its teeth as if growling.

When the sharp teeth showed, a beast’s ferocity filled the air.

It didn’t just warn. The avatar swung its leg.

No master’s kicking art could be cleaner than that.

With a burst of air, Jin Mu slid backward.

Even in that sudden moment, Jin Mu raised an arm to protect his face, but the arm throbbed.

It could have at least said it was only Yi-gang. Jin Mu, attacked without warning, twisted his face in bitter unfairness.

“So you bastards are trying to trespass in this Teacher Son’s territory. Even after I already warned you!”

Like a beast, the Great Sage Equal to Heaven’s fur bristled.

Clearly, its words and behavior were not normal.

It was unnatural, like it could only follow preset responses, like driving off intruders.

After knocking Jin Mu back, the avatar attacked the nearest one.

That is, it threw a punch at Dam Hyun.

Maybe because he was prepared, Dam Hyun managed to deflect the punch.

Dam Hyun reflexively drew a dagger, then hesitated.

Dam Hyun was not mild even at the best of times, but this was a critical moment. That stopped him from stabbing the avatar’s throat.

“Oh, you!”

Sun Wukong drew in a huge breath, then blew out a gust.

An impossible gale blasted out and shoved everyone backward.

Then Sun Wukong lunged in and whipped both arms like the wind.

“Argh! Shit!”

Several bright-red lines were carved across Dam Hyun’s face.

Sharp claws had sprung from Sun Wukong’s hands.

「Hey, you bastard! Are you really going to get beat down by an avatar!」

Nezha scolded Dam Hyun.

In the end, Dam Hyun could not hold back his anger.

“You monkey bastard!”

He did not know if calling Sun Wukong a monkey counted as an insult.

The avatar rushed in, baring its ferocity.

Several iron beads shot out from Dam Hyun’s sleeve.

Sun Wukong’s avatar knocked them all away with a single sweep of its hand.

But each iron bead was a precise hidden weapon.

As the shells cracked, the herbs inside met air and oxidized.

A pungent yellow mist burst out.

It got into their eyes and noses, forcing tears and snot.

It must have worked even on the Great Sage Equal to Heaven’s avatar, because it frowned and blew wind again.

Hwoong-!

The mist cleared quickly, but Dam Hyun was no longer there.

As a mere avatar without the Golden Pupils Fiery Eyes, it couldn’t tell which direction Dam Hyun had vanished to.

A red shadow fell over the avatar’s head.

When it looked up, the Red Armillary Sash was spread wide and falling down onto it.

Even as an avatar, it could sense the danger coming off that silk.

It was the moment it tried to dodge.

Dam Hyun, who had already moved away, chanted the Earth Binding spell.

Then the soil on the ground forcibly grabbed the avatar’s feet.

“Why, you!”

The avatar tore free of the spell’s restraint with brute strength, but it was already too late.

The Red Armillary Sash wrapped the avatar in one motion, like winding a cocoon.

And Dam Hyun formed strange hand seals.

It had not even been a full month since he obtained the Red Armillary Sash.

But he already knew how to use the heavenly treasure called the Red Armillary Sash.

The Red Armillary Sash constricted and crushed the avatar.

For a human, it would twist limbs and crush the skull, but what would it do to an avatar?

The damage the avatar took went beyond what it could endure.

The result was the collapse of the spellcraft that formed it.

The avatar turned into smoke and vanished.

Dam Hyun grinned and retrieved the Red Armillary Sash.

“It was nothing…”

A brighter color returned to the faces of Jin Mu, Neung Ji-pyeong, and the others.

Dam Hyun’s skill had truly improved by leaps and bounds.

Then Dam Hyun caught sight of something.

Through the dispersing smoke, three strands of fur fluttered.

Fur that glittered gold, so hard to see.

「Tsk. Damn it.」

Nezha clicked his tongue.

Peo-peo-peong!

Those three golden strands all turned into avatars.

“You wretch.”

“Step back.”

“How dare you!”

The three seemed to be avatars on a level similar to the one they had just driven off.

Dam Hyun clenched his teeth and wound the Red Armillary Sash around his forearm.

This was not something he could handle lightly like before.

‘Nezha! Power Borrowing!’

Dam Hyun shouted it.

On the way here, he had trained in how to borrow power from Nezha.

Nezha’s power, which even Yu Jeong-shin had worried about, was truly tremendous.

If he borrowed that power, could he not handle three avatars?

Dam Hyun prepared to receive the borrowed power.

The Red Armillary Sash tied to his right hand trembled.

All three avatars charged at once.

And Nezha…

「No.」

“What!”

He refused Dam Hyun’s request.

Dam Hyun could not endure the combined assault of the three avatars.

Originally, considering only his own ability, Dam Hyun would have struggled with even one avatar.

And he could not properly use the Red Armillary Sash, so there was nothing to be done.

Dam Hyun got pummeled and rolled across the ground.

“Puny thing.”

Fortunately, the avatars did not do anything more to the Dam Hyun sprawled there.

Dam Hyun rose with a furious face.

“You son of a—!”

「You ask to borrow my power just to deal with mere avatars. Absurd!」

But Nezha was the one who got even angrier.

So much that Dam Hyun was taken aback.

Yi-gang stopped Dam Hyun as he was about to argue back.

“I’ll go in. It doesn’t seem like they’re stopping me.”

The avatars were trying to let only Yi-gang in.

Somehow, it even seemed like they recognized Yi-gang’s face.

“It’s dangerous, Young Master Yi-gang.”

“It’s fine.”

Neung Ji-pyeong tried to dissuade him and Jin Mu looked worried, but Yi-gang was stubborn.

“We don’t have time to waste anymore.”

They had not come here to fight the Great Sage Equal to Heaven.

Nezha liked Yi-gang’s decision.

「Hand over the Red Armillary Sash.」

‘…Why.’

「I’m going to lend it to that guy.」

Dam Hyun handed over the Red Armillary Sash without a fuss.

Nezha passed it to Yi-gang.

「I’m going too.」

The avatars did not pay attention to Nezha.

Nezha walked straight through the avatars and showed Yi-gang how to tie the Red Armillary Sash.

「Use it as a belt.」

Nezha’s attitude was strangely serious, so Yi-gang listened.

When Yi-gang strapped it at his waist, Nezha’s body turned faint like smoke and settled into the Red Armillary Sash. The sash’s color also dulled.

「Like this, even that monkey’s fiery eyes won’t be able to see me. Unless I come out, that is.」

Yi-gang looked back at the group.

“If it gets dangerous, shout. I’ll come in right away.”

Jin Mu said.

Yi-gang nodded and entered Gonggu Mountain’s narrow pass.

Gonggu Mountain was indeed a strange place.

From the outside, it was just a jagged stone mountain, but inside it was not.

The rocks enclosing the narrow pass gave off a dark-blue sheen.

They looked more like metal than stone.

As Yi-gang walked that otherworldly path, Nezha warned him.

「That stone monkey, that horse stable bastard…」

His voice was a low growl.

「He’s brutal and only cares about himself. He moves only for what interests him, only for what he wants to have.」

He warned Yi-gang.

「Don’t get pushed around by that degenerate, trash monkey.」

It was sincere advice.

The path ended quickly.

What Yi-gang faced was a cave.

A cave deep and large enough for a dragon to come and go.

In that darkness, two dense lumps of fire rose up.

Red eyes, and golden pupils.

Golden Pupils Fiery Eyes.

“What fearless human has entered the domain of the Victorious Fighting Buddha, the greatest under Heaven, the greatest king of past and present?”

This time, it was the real Great Sage Equal to Heaven, not an avatar.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep