Leveling with the Gods

"He's back."

The corner of Son OhGong's lips curled up.

He could sense the presence of the Bull Demon King outside the Five Elements Mountain, which had remained silent for over a thousand years.

It felt like a great fight was happening outside.

"Is it Lee Rangjin-gun?"

Lee Rangjin and the Bull Demon King.

Normally, this would have been a fight that the Bull Demon King would have lost, because if Son OhGong's memory was correct, the Bull Demon King was currently empty-handed.

But the fight between the Bull Demon King and Lee Rangjin had dragged on for quite some time, despite being a troublesome opponent.

Flinch-.

His body trembled.

He wanted to rush out and fight alongside them.

But not now.

His body was ready to leap and fight right now.

But still, the seal had not been broken yet.

And then...

Kak-.

His body moved.

"...eh?"

Indeed, his body that hadn't even budged a moment ago began to move slightly.

It was strange.

Goo-goo, goo-goo-.

The more he pushed, the more he could feel the Five Elements Mountain twisting and moving.

Only then did he realize.

'The seal has weakened.'

The corner of Son OhGong's mouth curled up.

"Kim YuWon, you bastard..."

Kuwook.

His body that had been crushed under the weight of the enormous mountain began to slowly twist.

"You finally arrived."

Gug, gug, gug-.

The Five Elements Mountain trembled.

The mountain's tremor was caused by a force powerful enough to move its weight.

And within it, a being of such power slumbered.

'That guy was right.'

"There's no need to break the seal."

These were the words that Son OhGong spoke confidently as he searched for a way to break the seal of Son OhGong.

"I just need to make it a little weaker. Then I can break it myself."

The sealing spell of the Five Elements Mountain was powerful enough to seal the Great Sage, Heaven's Equal.

In other words, it meant that the power of the Great Sage, Heaven's Equal was strong enough to require such a powerful seal.

'He had already broken the seal by himself.'

Son OhGong wasn't just trapped.

He was constantly preparing to break the seal, and he had indeed broken it.

So there was no need to break the entire seal.

As long as he could weaken the seal spell that bound OhGong's body a little.

After that, OhGong would break the seal on his own.

And as expected...

[The 'Golden Cinder Eyes' resonate]

Hwareuk-.

YuWon's eyes began to resonate.

['The Great Sage, Heaven's Equal' is looking at you]

The guy was finally freed.

The corners of YuWon's lips lifted.

Ne Zha's attention had already shifted away from YuWon.

Kurung-!

Up in the sky.

The pure white clouds covered by mist let out a furious roar.

"You really...?"

Ne Zha asked, but YuWon didn't respond.

The silence convinced Ne Zha that YuWon was responsible for Son OhGong's resurrection.

"You've done something big, very big."

Bam.

Ne Zha passed by YuWon.

Dozens of Hydrangeas swirled around him, and before he knew it, two swords were already in his hands.

However, YuWon kept looking towards the top of the Five Elements Mountain.

'He's here.'

Dddddd-.

The mountain's peak swayed.

On top of it stood a man with long white hair.

The Great Sage, Heaven's Equal.

Son OhGong stretched and looked up at the sky.

"Whoaaaaa!"

Zhiyiying-.

Puhhhhhh!

Son OhGong stretched, and a huge wave of Arcane Power spread in all directions.

In an instant, a gust of wind blew, opening a hole in the sky's clouds centered around him.

"I-!"

Son OhGong shouted, jumping up.

"I'm back!"

His voice filled with excitement.

Seeing him, YuWon sighed and shook his head.

"That personality is no different now than it was afterwards."

Turning around, YuWon faced Li Jing once again.

"All that's left is..."

Now that Son OhGong had been resurrected.

He was about to yield the battlefield to Ne Zha, but his face was even more hardened than before.

"All that's left is to halve the power of the Celestial Realm."

I'm back-!

Zhiyiying-.

The voice resonated in his ears, and he felt his body growing weak.

He had ears and eyes, so he knew.

He knew that the Great Sage, Heaven's Equal had been resurrected.

"He really has resurrected..."

"Yes. He's back."

Lee Rangjin noticed that the fist that had been reaching for him had stopped, and he looked at the Bull Demon King.

The expression on his face was incredible.

The man whose eyes had turned crimson a moment ago, swinging his fist at him, now had moist eyes filled with longing and joy.

This gave Lee Rangjin a few moments to clear his mind.

"The Great Sage, Heaven's Equal has resurrected."

The Bull Demon King and his alter egos.

And Kim YuWon.

In addition to them, Son OhGong's main body had been resurrected and joined them.

This fight was no longer about stopping the Great Celestial War.

It was the Great Celestial War itself.

And if that's the case.

'It's impossible with this level of power.'

The decision was made quickly.

There was no hesitation in action.

"All forces...!"

Lee Rangjin cleared his throat, infusing his voice with Mana so that it could be heard over the mountains.

"All troops, retreat! Retreat, and prepare for the upcoming Great Celestial War!"

Great Celestial War.

The weight of that name caused the soldiers to stumble for a moment.

However, Lee Rangjin-gun shouted again, as if he wouldn't tolerate even that 'moment.'

"Let's go!"

"Yes!"

The soldiers and generals of the Celestial Realm began to move.

In retreat.

It was not a course of action for the lofty name of the Celestial Realm to take. As one of the great Guilds that rule the Tower, the pride of the Celestial Realm was as high as its position.

But the situation was so dire that they couldn't afford the luxury of disregarding that pride.

Of course...

"Where are you going in such a hurry?"

Thud!

The Bull Demon King stood in front of those soldiers of the Celestial Realm.

"Once a fight starts, it must be finished."

"...Move out of the way."

"I can't."

The Bull Demon King's eyes narrowed.

"If we want to win the next fight."

The next fight.

In those words, Lee Rangjin felt a chill, a goosebump, run up his spine.

This was not the reaction he had expected.

'Their goal must have been to release the Great Sage, Heaven's Equal...'

The next fight meant a large-scale Great Celestial War.

This was not an impromptu idea.

From the Bull Demon King's words, it seemed that they had been considering the revival of the Great Sage, Heaven's Equal from the beginning and beyond.

They even thought there might be reinforcements from the Celestial Realm, including themselves.

'Neither the Great Sage, Heaven's Equal nor the Great Sage, Who Pacifies Heaven are great strategists.'

Lee Rangin thought that one of the reasons for the Celestial Realm's victory in the last Celestial War was the ignorance of both.

Although the Great Sage, Heaven's Equal and the Great Sage, Who Pacifies Heaven were certainly High-Rank individuals, they were individuals who didn't possess any Guilds in the first place.

And in the case of such individuals, they often lacked knowledge of strategy and tactics.

But now.

Whether it was the recapture of Son OhGong or the subsequent trial, Lee Rangjin felt that it was different from the Bull Demon King's judgment he had known until now.

'Is it Kim YuWon?'

Chak-.

That's why retreating wasn't so easy.

If the Bull Demon King clung to them while they tried to retreat, the damage would only escalate quickly.

The Bull Demon King sent the other soldiers behind him and looked at Lee Rangjin, who stood in his way.

'It's just as he said.'

"The rescue of Son OhGong is only the first objective."

The story of Son OhGong's rescue came to an end.

YuWon straightened up, as if the first part of the story had concluded.

"What do you mean?"

"It's a story that spans more than a thousand years, and it's probably a story you don't want to remember too much, but... you and the Great Sage, Heaven's Equal were defeated in the Great Celestial War."

The Great Celestial War.

Faced with that story he didn't want to remember, the Bull Demon King rolled his eyes.

"What are you trying to say?"

"It will probably be a small-scale Celestial War instead."

"I suppose so, because the armies of the Celestial Realm, including Lee Rangjin, will be there."

"The important thing is that they are not in the Celestial Realm but in the Five Elements Mountain."

He wondered what he was trying to say.

The Bull Demon King furrowed his brow and waited for YuWon to speak.

"While OhGong resurrects..."

YuWon looked at the drawing he had made on the ground and pointed to the marker he had drawn in the center of the Five Elements Mountain.

"If we do it right, we should be able to halve the power of the Celestial Realm in an instant."

"Retreat..."

Ne Zha murmured upon hearing Lee Rangjin's order in the distance.

"As expected of a Celestial Grand General."

The Grand General Lee Rangjin and the God of War Ne Zha had been at odds for a long time.

Although they shared the same goal of reviving the Celestial Realm, their methods were too different.

Unlike the aggressive God of War, the Grand General always sought safety and peace.

This time was no different.

Their differences led them to make different decisions.

"Listen, all troops!"

Ne Zha's voice rang through the air.

"There will be no retreat! We will capture the Monkey and the Bull right here!"

Boom, boom, boom.

A terrifying Arcane Power surged from the center of Ne Zha's body.

"Understood?!"

This was Ne Zha, known as the Celestial God of War.

The morale of the soldiers who knew the history he had written instantly soared.

"Let's go!"

"We have received orders!"

But...

"That, that immature brat..."

His father, Li Jing, clicked his tongue and shook his head at such a judgment from Ne Zha.

Swish-.

Ne Zha raised his sword up high.

His sword split the sky in two.

The moment the sword fell.

Kwowwww-!

The clouds in the sky split in half, along with the Five Elements Mountain whose seal was broken.

Pop-!

After splitting the mountain and the sky in half with a single sword, Ne Zha turned his head and looked at a nearby place.

Suddenly, there stood Son OhGong, with his long white hair cut to waist length.

"Thanks for getting me out of that unpleasant place."

Tak, tak, tak.

OhGong shook his head as if shaking water out of his ears.

"Because if you didn't, I was going to blow it up myself."

Poof-.

A small piece of stone fell onto OhGong's palm.

Upon discovering it, Ne Zha realized why they hadn't been able to find the object they had been searching for for a long time.

"You put the Ru Yi Bang in your ear?"

"Yes. That's how I usually carry it when I'm not using it."

"That's why we couldn't find it."

"Even if you had seen it, you couldn't have picked it up. It's not what it seems. It's very heavy."

"I know it belonged to a Dragon King who used to measure the depth of the sea. But still, you're not the only one who can handle it."

"Maybe for my older brother, but for you? That's impossible."

Shhhh.

The Ru Yi Bang extended in Son OhGong's hand.

Holding the True Sword and the Sensitive Sword in both hands, Ne Zha felt the tension in his body.

What he saw before him was not the alter ego he had been hunting for the past thousand years.

Nor was the staff he held in his hand fake.

Son OhGong and Ru Yi Bang.

Both were real.

Whirr-.

The Ru Yi Bang spun in OhGong's hand.

And then...

"Grow-."

Chuck-.

Son OhGong's mouth opened as he pointed the Ru Yi Bang at Ne Zha.

"Ru Yi."