Apocalypse Redux
Story 8: Spiritual Primate

“Will flatten mountains for food”

An interesting slogan to be wearing on one’s chest, something that would be considered boastful or humorous on most people.

Yet Sun Wukong meant every word.

Give him a mountain to flatten, be it a living beast of titanic proportions or an inert hunk of rock, and he’d deal with it. And woe to those who failed to follow through with the promised reward.

Though he really should have taken it off before heading through the void between stars, now that it was no longer needed.

A distant part of him was outraged at the fact that he even had to ask, but then again, stomping through the universe and simply demanding his due would make him little better than the common robber baron. And he was far better than that.

With a low sigh, he put away the sign and pulled it into one of his many, many storage rings, one on each toe and each finger save for his thumbs, where they’d have just gotten in the way.

Jingu Bang shrunken to the size of a needle, tucked behind his right ear, resplendent robes covering his chest, cloud-treading shoes that had grown in power to the point where he could walk on the empty void of space while only gaining in resplendence …

All in all, he considered all this a win. The world had grown so much larger, so much wider, than even the China of old had been; there was not a single place in this universe he could not reach, given enough time.

This wasn’t a question of “do i want to go there” but rather of “when will I get there” and there was just so much stuff to find, all built by countless different hands to fit any of a hundred separate cultures and design philosophies, each of which then further had their own foodstuffs, forged from whatever the colonists had brought with them, found locally, gained via summoning or otherwise obtained, then transformed through whatever lens had been created by the culture of the new locals.

Oh, so very many foods to try, oh so many drinks to down, oh so many delicacies to run off with …

Sun flipped himself upside down in the twisted void of the [Alcubierre Bubble], watching the world shift while simultaneously staying almost entirely the same. Yes, the galaxy was fascinating, but the travel from star to star was somewhat boring, especially with how little mana he had.

He sighed. At least he was almost there, and his meditation [Skill] made it easier to pass the time. And an hour later, Sun was finally able to let reality settle around him once again, and go spinning out across realspace.

It was a fairly standard star system, big yellow sun in the middle, a scorched planet right next to it, a couple of less messy but still uninhabitable worlds up next, the lifebearing world, a handful of gas giants, an asteroid belt hovering in between two different planetary orbits … the usual stuff.

He just started “running” in the direction of the world when reality tore behind him to spit out what looked to be a heavy cruiser, bristling with weapons and having come out far too close … close enough that Sun actually had to throw himself out of the way to make sure those fools did not crack their ship like an egg against his skin.

Clumsy morons, one and all, Sun was convinced of that fact even before they started shooting at him.

Pannicked on top of everything else …

Jingu Bang leaped into his hand and expanded to its largest size, handily blocking the barrage of lasers and particle beams, then launched himself forward straight at the vessel of morons.

Sun landed on the bow of the warship, laid a palm flat against the hull, and cast a spell to make the sound of his voice transmit inside.

“You have fired upon the Great Sage who is equal to the Heavens themselves … but in my infinite magnanimity, I shall allow you to make it up to me. Say, how well stocked is your larder?”

***

When he came flying out nearly an hour later, the quartermaster’s curses still ringing in his ears, he was three storage rings of provisions richer, and his weight had likely almost doubled from the things he’d directly eaten.

Well, that had been fun … much more so than the world he visited afterwards. It had simply been far too young, far too immature, and far too early for anyone of his stature to drop by, as evidenced by how terrified everyone had been by his visit.

However, ultimately, it turned out to not have been a complete waste of time, as he did learn of another world he absolutely needed to visit.

So he leaped up into the clouds, kicked off the nearest one, and launched himself off into the void of space that promptly trembled beneath his power before warping and hurling him off into the distance.

***

This was certainly an interesting world. One practically made for him.

Jianghu.

It simply translates into “rivers and lakes,” but that was merely the literal meaning of the word. Because it was all about what was around those rivers and lakes. Nature.

Nature … aaaand all the countless things that normally hid in it. Temples, clans of martial artists, dungeons, immortals with varying levels of sanity … in other words, while it might have been an artificial recreation, this was the world was old China, where he had spent his first lifetime.

Sure, some of the plants were different, outright alien, to be precise, and even the oldest and most distinguished constructions had been built mere decades ago, yet there was a fundamental familiarity that he hadn’t felt anywhere else.

A wild world, filled with countless enclaves developed around any philosophy a person could create, interspersed with lands where one could win one’s fortune, be it in dungeons carefully controlled to never break or environements more extreme than could ever be found on an ordinary inhabited world, ready to be explored and used to understand the true power nature held, irrespective of what heights humanity might have reached.

Sun could feel the grin stretch across his face, exposing his fangs.

Someone should have invited him, but no one had bothered to do so. But it no longer mattered; he’d found his way here anyway. So he let himself get dragged in by this world’s gravity, and then, let himself fall, plummeting through the atmosphere like a meteor until he slammed into the ground, only bothering to slow himself enough that he did not damage the city or road, a huge plume of dust leaping into the air to announce his arrival to anyone who had failed to hear him.

He rose from the crater, a simple wave of his hand cleaning off the dust and debris, then began to march in the direction of the large settlement until it came into view, including the vast sign standing before the outermost house.

“Wulin, Capital City”

Named after the martial part of Jianghu, known as “Murim” by Koreans.

Of course, no one had bothered building a wall, that would have been entirely useless in a world filled with superhumans and humans who had transcended the fundamental limitations of humanity.

True, there was a “guard” there, but the man was already looking bored despite the ruckus Sun had caused.

“This one greets the Handsome Monkey King,” he said, bowing surprisingly deeply and letting Sun enter.

Interesting. These people certainly had propriety down pat.

“Greetings, my good man,” Sun replied. “Where might the finest establishment in town be found to rest my head?”

The guard gave him a quizzical look, but immediately began reciting a succinct path towards a place deep inside the city.

But Sun decided not to press it and walked deeper inside. As was true on a whole lot of colony worlds, this place had a whole lot more buildings than people, with many of them having been created either in anticipation of future population growth, or constructed only to be discarded by someone for whom it had been much easier to build another house, rather than modifying an existing one.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

Once more, people seemed to be reacting differently to his presence than was normal.

They greeted him, yes, but the way one would greet one’s neighbor, rather than an immensely powerful sovereign from beyond the stars, one of the strongest once-humans to have ever existed.

It wasn’t that he was conceited, however, this was simply vastly different that what was ordinary. In fact, it was so odd that he was willing to go to the point of investigating. The guard could have simply been a consummate professional who was being paid far too little … but in Sun’s experience, people like that were rare.

“Good afternoon,” he greeted the nearest passerby. “I was wondering, what do you think of my current attire? How does it compare to my usual fare?”

“It’s the same as always,” the woman said, looking slightly startled. And scared.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t realize anything had changed …”

“When is the last time you saw me?” Sun asked.

“Last week?”

Sun nodded and threw her an Aspect of the Lernean Hydra by way of payment. That should always be valuable, right? Then, he continued his march into town.

This little conversation might not have contained the words “there is an impostor,” but that was quite obviously what was going on here. The guards, the shopkeepers, the passers-by, all of them had seen “him” a hundred, perhaps a thousand times before, and this foolish doppelganger had dared besmirch his good name.

Sun glared ahead, watching the people cringe away. Truly, just another reason to find and beat the fool that dared impersonate him. He wondered if it was the pretender he had faced back on Earth, mere months after the [System] had returned magic to the world. Or, perhaps, it was a new individual convinced of being able to take on his mantle?

Later, though. He was hungry at the moment.

Redirecting his path through a dark alley, he plucked several hairs from his arm and dropped them, then continued his walk while his clones, weak as they might have been, manifested, running off to explore while Sun got an early dinner.

Because what better way to gather information than to gather information than to plant his rear in the biggest, grandest tavern in town and just ... listening? It wasn’t as though any wards found in this world were capable of blocking his sharp ears.

And so on.

Sun rounded the last corner and found the city square spreading out before him, grand, feeling practically ancient despite its relative newness, every surface covered in carvings and reliefs that seemed weathered despite it all being so incredibly new, the illusion naturally flowing into the buildings that were similarly weathered without coming off as damaged or uncared for, a truly titanic governarial pallace on the right, siting atop its own hill and being towering above it all like some primordial guardian dragon, crimson wood and gold leaf gleaming like a beacon in the late afternoon light.

However, somehow, the restaurant sitting on the opposite end of the vast plaza managed to match it. Dark wood sourced exclusively from Hunting Grounds, a deep burgundy metal Sun could not name but wanted to find to adorn his own armor with decorating the facade along with gold and silver, matched with jade carvings, all beneath a soaring roof of glass and and silk that looked far too fragile to exist in this world …

If the palace was an ancient dragon, then this restaurant was the noble fenghuang, a resplendent bird of wealth and fortune, glittering with embers and luminous feathers.

Certainly a fitting place to visit.

Upon entering, Sun found himself looking into a surprisingly average-sized room on the ground floor while the first and second stories were simple balconies wrapped around the inside wall, allowing an elevated place for people of standing to sit.

Wasn’t that polite?

“Would you prefer your usual meal?” the waiter who had been awaiting customers at the entrance asked. Yet more proof about the presence of an impostor.

Sun shook his head.

“I believe I would prefer to see the menu, just this once.”

“Very well,” the waiter actually bowed, then led him onto one of the tables on the main floor. Sun followed, sat down, and barely thirty seconds later, was presented with both the menu and a small bowl of nuts and pickled vegetables to tide him over while he waited for his true food.

Then, while he held the menu in his left hand, he snatched up the provided chopsticks with his right, and began to pick up the treats one by one and slowly eat them.

This truly was a fine restaurant, the food he had already been provided was good, the dishes presently being prepared were wafting mouth-watering scents throughout the building.

And the menu was so stuffed with dishes he wished to eat, to hte point where he feared he would have to remain in this city for a month for the sole purpose of trying them all.

But then, he realized something felt off. Wrong. Toxic.

Wher- … the appetizers, obviously, but that there was something far more sinister at play, as he recognized this particular poison, one of the few that could actually harm him, harkening back all the way to his original lifetime.

The original recipe of the Demon King of a Hundred Eyes, refined from a thousand pounds of shit, harvested from every bird of the mountains, reduced down until it could fit into a single cup, then further refined until a mere three pinches remained, pan-fried, and finally concentrated one final time, until one recieved a toxin that could bypass virtually all resistances and immunities … though a strong constitution could somewhat blunt the effect, regardless of the fact that there was nothing in this world, or any other form that matter, which could block it entirely.

Which would make the mountain of a man coming down from the top floor of the restaurant while leaving behind a trail of clothing to lay his chest bare, that very same demon. Or at least his incarnation in the modern day.

He was a tall Chinese man, his skin already turning purple as it hardened and transformed into … something else, while everything from the hip down elongated into a massive centipede lower body, countless legs hollowly clicking against the wooden floor, extending at least six meters back even as the man himself advanced.

No, not a man.

A beastial yaoguai, a monster practically on par with Sun’s first incarnation. Was this the impostor?

Unlikely. What would have been the point? No, it was rather obvious that that had that been someone else, and Sun was pretty sure he was also aware of their identity. Or at least their [Class], because he suspected that was what this was all about.

Sun’s most obvious problem, the demon king approaching from above had already hit the Level cap, his reasons for going through with this attack were rather nebulous, and likely stupid … had this all been about him. Which Sun strongly suspected it wasn’t.

The eponymous countless eyes began to manifest on the chest of the advancing monster, opening and balefully glaring down at him, golden light shining from their depths before it burst forth as countless lances of light that tore through the railing that still separated them as though it were mere tissue paper, obliterating the table, and blasting Sun of his feet, sending hte monkey hurtling through the wall and out onto the square amidst a hail of splinters.

Well, that certainly hadn’t changed. The same damn power that had made him so overwhelming the last time around.

That, coupled with the fact Sun’s immortality worked differently in this life, the nigh-invulnerability suddenly being split between hampering the poison and blocking the golden rays, allowing them to actually hurt him, albeit at half-strenght … until a gigantic fist rocketed out of the haze of energy beams, and for the split second when it made contact, his defenses were split three ways.

Sun tumbled across he plaza, chest aching, clothing shredded, skin smouldering.

Damn insect.

Sun rose back to his feet, Jingu Bang expanding from where he’d grasped it in his right hand, not only lengthening but also widening, forming a massive barrier between him and the oncoming barrage.

And as for his left hand? That, he had stretched to his left, fingers splayed, palm down, golden energy swirling around it. But not the same harsh light of his foe’s attacks, but rather the soft radiance of dawn.

There were countless wondrous relics that he had been lent during his pilgrimage west, but he had never been able to keep them. Not then, at least. Now, though? Now he could conjure them at will.

Sun Wukong, the Handsome Monkey King, cast [Gifts of the Eastern Heaven].

For the barest of seconds, he saw the golden knitting needle manifesting beneath his hand, then it was gone, having flashed away towards his foe before he’d even had the time to tell it what to do.

This was almost immediately followed by a bellow of pain while the staccato of impacts against his staff instantly cut off.

Sun shrank the weapon back down to its regular size and rested it on his shoulder, looking over towards the gigantic centipede-centaur that was glaring at him from across the city square, bleeding from countless holes on its torso, each having previously been the source of one of his many eyes. Now all he had left was a powerful, durable body and dozens of exceedingly pointy legs.

Powerful, yes.

But powerful enough to contend with him?

Well, considering the [Demon King of a Hundred Eyes] immediately proceeded to launch himself at him, his foe certainly said to think so. He was oh so very wrong about that.

Golden hooped staff met chitin-shod arm or barbed leg, over and over again, and for several rounds, they seemed evenly matched. Until suddenly, the monstrous man’s armor cracked, then shattered, and then the third blow hammered through his right arm.

And then Sun began to beat this foe into the ground, to turn him into paste filled with exoskeleton shards.

When he was done, he looked around to finally acknowledge the plaza’s devastated state. Most of that had been his enemy’s fault, but not all of it. Whoops …

But overall, the crowd seemed more curious than angry.

All except one, whom he immediately fixed with a hard stare. After all, this individual was dressed exactly like him, was of the exact same race as him oh, and he even shared his face.

Sun grinned, exposing his fangs.

“Oh, I know who you are … or rather, who you are trying to become, fool. A member of a very particular group, one beyond the ten categories of life, their names a part of neither the Earth nor the Heavens, the most unique existences in all the universe, all four of them,” he called out, then began to list these beings.

“Long-Armed Ape Monkey.

“Red-bottomed Horse Monkey.

“Intelligent Stone Monkey.”

He thumbed at his own chest at that, then pointed an accusing finger at the man before him.

“Six-eared Macaque wannabe moron.”

Not everyone had understood what he was talking about, but considering the providence of this world, the majority did. And those who didn’t were quickly otherwise informed.

This impostor had spent years, perhaps decades, gathering information and pretending to be the Monkey King himself, in an attempt to win a ludicrously powerful [Heir-Class]. It might even have worked … no, actually it would work. Because killing someone who was merely in the Fourth Evolution was simply boring and pointless.

The idea of fighting a peer while at the same Level? That made his heart beat faster.

“Run,” Sun hissed at his double, who immediately froze. But when Sun took a single, quick, step towards him, the man ran so fast it practically seemed as though he had teleported.

As for the Monkey King himself? He had fallen over and was laughing himself silly.

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