“First of all, Baek Mu-Sun : the Bloody Heavenly Demon. He is a young man satisfies the terms and has been known in the region since four years ago. He is active is the northern regions of Eria, where it snows all year. He is still young, but he reigns over the area by using violence. It is suggested he might unify the area soon and spread out to other regions.”
Sung Min also knew of Baek Mu-Sun, the Bloody Heavenly Demon. Around the time he had died, Baek Mu Son had left the northern regions for the south. Sung Min didn’t know what happened afterwards.
“Another one is Byuk Won-Pae, the Crazy Heavenly Demon. I actually find his nickname to be quite fitting. He is very old in age and the sky is the limit to his martial arts skills. Bloody Heavenly Demon Baek Mu-Sun certainly has skills exceeding the Peak Level, but the Crazy Demon Byuk Won-Pae…. He is a much greater master than that. Plus, he has a cruel personality and has no compassion at all, so he is just fit to be a demon. Bloody Demon Baek Mu-Sun has his followers, the Bloody Demon Army, but the Crazy Demon Byuk Won-Pae doesn’t have followers. He roams on his own. If you cross paths with him by any chance, make a run for it. He has no mercy at all.”
The Crazy Demon Byuk Won-Pae. Sung-Min knew of the name. However, compared to the Bloody Demon Baek and the Minor Demon Wijihoyeon, the name of the Crazy Demon Byuk hadn’t left a lasting impression in his memory. Byuk was an infamous being for being crazy and cruel without mercy, but he was such a nomad that he had never been the center of a big gossip.
“And finally, we have the ‘Minor Heavenly Demon’ – Wijihoyeon. The nickname ‘Minor Demon’ may be less impressive then the ‘Bloody Demon’ or the ‘Crazy Demon’, but that is not the case at all. Truth is, ‘Minor Demon Wijihoyeon is a veiled figure- I am not able to wrap my head around what he is like. What I am sure is that Minor Demon Wijihoyeon is as much of a monster as the Bloody Demon or the Crazy Demon.” Namgoong Heewon, the young master of the Namgoong household and also known as the Sword Dragon spoke gravely.
Sung-Min could feel Namgoong’s authority in his words.
“I am not sure what this Wijihoyeon is like. All I know is that she is evil and has no mercy, but at the same time she is compassionate and courageous…. HAHA! So many ironic rumors I’ve heard! We do not even know if Wijihoyeon is a male or female. The only thing I am sure of is WIjihoyeon’s strengths. She has not even met the age requirements, but she is already at the peak of mastering her powers. The other three “Heavenly Demons” would definitely acknowledge her as a genius.”
Sung-Min knew. Wijihoyeon was a genius. Sung-Min knew this better than anyone else.
“You two.” Scarlett, who had been picking at her food, glared her eyes. “Eat up, won’t you?”
Sung-Min silently picked up his chopsticks and stared to eat. Namgoong Hee-Won also let out a cough and started eating.
It seemed Scarlett didn’t have the appetite for Zhongyuan food so it was Sung-Min and Namgoog Hee-Won who had no choice but to finish up most of the food. Namgoong Hee-Won, who had said he had already eaten, ate most of the food.
After drinking some tea to rinse out his mouth after the meal, he spoke up.
“I heard you are headed for Shaolin.”
“Looks like you were eavesdropping on us.”
“Not really. I just happened to hear you. I happen to have excellent hearing, you know.”Namgoong replied lightly. “If you are headed to Shaolin, why don’t you go with me? I just happened to take care of some matters at Shaolin myself.”
“May I ask what your purpose of going to Shaolin is?”
“I’m going to go pay my respects to the Great Master Bul-Young of Shaolin. Four great households including the Namgoong Household pay respects to the Great Master once a year. We’re staying committed to an old promise.”
The four great households Namgoong was referring to were the Namgoong household, the Mo-Yong household, the Tao Line, and the Jae-Gal Household. Sung-Min was curious what the ‘old promise’ could be, but he didn’t ask Hee-Won. He felt Hee-Won wouldn’t take it kindly if he asked things like that.
“I hate this city all of a sudden.” Scarlett muttered. She had finished her meal. She had been anticipating good Zhongyuan food, but it seemed she was in a bad mood because it hadn’t fit her appetite.
They had originally been thinking of touring around the city, but they decided to head to Shaolin right away since they had decided to accompany Namgoong.
However, the city of Brethun was very big, and the sun had set before they could reach the South Gate of the city, which led to Mount Song. It seemed rude to knock on the doors of the Shaolin Temple in the dead of the night, so the trio decided to stay in an inn and leave the following day.
“Ah, if that’s all right with you.”
Perhaps it was because the city was near Mount Song, or perhaps it was because the city was full of martial arts masters, but there was a tourney hall behind the inn. Seeing this, Namgoong Heewon turned to Sung-Min.
“Would you like to have a light tournament?”
Sung-Min was slightly shocked at his offer. He had not thought Namgoong would suggest they have a match. Sung-Min pondered about this for a while and nodded.
“Only if it’s a friendly competition.” Sung-Min replied.
“Of course.” Namgoong replied, smiling brightly.
Scarlett went up to her room, uninterested.
Luckily, there was no one using the hall so Namgoong and Sung-Min were able to prepare for battle right away. They had asked the inn owner if they could use weapons and they were able to borrow a wooden sword and staff that didn’t have blades.
“I did think you would be a spearman.” Namgoong murmured quietly as he twirled the wooden sword lightly in his hands.
Sung – Min took off his armor and stood facing Namgoong in light attire. A spear and a staff were two completely different weapons but using weapons with blades in a friendly match was too dangerous.
“Honestly, I do prefer real competitions, but such matches would be too dangerous, since we don’t have any observers. So, let’s just enjoy this.”
“I’m not sure whether I’ll be good enough to meet your expectations.”
“Haha! You are too humble. Well, I guess we’ll see.” Namgoong replied and adjusted his posture.
The playfulness was nowhere to be found and his eyes gleamed dangerously. Namgoong had simply changed posture fit for fighting with a sword, but he looked completely different.
Holding the staff with both hands, Sung-Min gulped as he saw the energy creeping off Namgoong.
He was certain about one thing.
Namgoong Hee-Won was powerful.