Ri Seung-Heon

"Wow, I wasn't expecting you to be so mature about this Myeol Mang." Mi Yeon replied in astonishment.

"Well it's the same case for me really, the more time we spend together the better I'll trust everyone, so it's the best solution to the problem. Now can we get to the training?"

"Alright, finish the last hundred swings so we can teach you sword thrusts."

As Myeol Mang unsheathed his sword and took up his stance, a light blue hue began to appear around his body.

"Hoooooooooo…"

Swish!

However, as Myeol Mang continued to perform diagonal slashes, Mi Yeon slowly slid closer to Seo Jun. Only to whisper in his ear as she arrived next to him.

"Hey Seo Jun, that blue hue around Myeol Mang, is that what I think it is? Or is it just his internal energy?"

"I'm not sure, though seeing how he didn't have that hue around him yesterday while practicing his sword swings I'd say the hue is what you think it is." Seo Jun whispered back while keeping his eyes locked on Myeol Mang.

---

Ri Seung-Heon, a once prominent disciple of the Mount Hua Sect, used to live a life of luxury as a second class disciple in the Realm of Attainment. Spending his days training with the rest of the second class disciples and cultivating under the plum blossom trees of Mount Hua.

Yet one day, in the midst of his cultivation, he made a fatal mistake while in the presence of one of the sect elders. Ri Seung-Heon had directed the qi within his body too fast for the Mount Hua Sect's cultivation technique to allow control over, causing his qi to run rampant and spread throughout his body, a state of which is called Qi Deviation.

If it had not been for the elder who witnessed the event happen, Ri Seung-Heon's life would have been cut short by the Qi Deviation. Yet the elder was not fast enough to stop all the side effects of the Qi Deviation, as Ri Seung-Heon had already started to go insane by the time his blood points were sealed, and his dantian was too shattered for the Mount Hua Sect to fix.

Having undergone Qi Deviation with the side effects of insanity and a shattered dantian present, the elders of the Mount Hua Sect cast Ri Seung-Heon out of their doors and told him to never return, both for his sake, and for their own. Leaving Ri Seung-Heon for dead in the cruel world of Jianghu.

For two years Ri Seung-Heon survived without a dantian as an insane beggar, until one day a man dressed in lavish robes with a bloodstained spear engraved with the words 'Demon Star' found him asleep and nearly starved to death in an alley.

The man who found Ri Seung-Heon in that valley was none other than the Third Demon Star of the Demonic Cult. He had not known about Ri Seung-Heon's past as a martial artist of the Mount Hua Sect, all he knew about the nearly dead man he found was that he could be used if saved from death.

By the time Ri Seung-Heon awoke from his sleep, he had already been transported back to the Ten Thousand Mountains and was within a medical ward. However he soon noticed that not only was he in a strange medical ward, his thoughts were no longer clouded by the haze of insanity, nor was his dantian shattered throughout his stomach.

It was only after a week of resting in the medical ward did he find out who had saved him from near death and cured his Qi Deviation. It was none other than the Third Demon Star and Thousand Poisons Doctor of the Demonic Cult, the enemies of the Mount Hua Sect, who had saved him.

It was only after seeing for himself that the Demonic Cult members weren't just heartless savages like the Orthodox Sects called them, but were actually just humans like everyone else who followed the words of their lord when commanded, did he request to become a member of the Demonic Cult.

His newly reconstructed dantian was soon filled with Demonic Qi, a qi made from the anger of pain of the user, and began to learn Demonic Cult martial arts. As the insanity from the Qi Deviation had made him forget all about his Mount Hua origins.

Soon after Ri Seung-Heon finished learning the Demonic Cult's martial arts, he was assigned to the Illusion Fist Squad and was given a mission by the Head Guardian. The mission was to find and claim two White Flame Roots from a wandering master who had massacred a Demonic Cult storehouse.

Yet it was after slowly hunting the man down did he realize the man was no ordinary man, but a Mount Hua disciple from the same class he had once been in. Though he felt the face was familiar to him, he didn't recognize the Mount Hua disciple, but it was after he had killed him that a sudden pain occurred in his chest, as if he grieved for the disciple.

However he had discarded that pain soon after experiencing it, and began to search the now dead disciples body for the two White Flame Roots he had stolen. Yet when he found the White Flame Roots within the disciples' robes, he had found not two roots, but three.

Yet it was the third White Flame Root that began to bring back the memories lost to him from his insanity, the memories of his time in the Mount Hua Sect training with his friend every day, the memories of the time he had spent with the man he had just killed.

But despite having the memories of his time as a Mount Hua disciple once more, Ri Seung-Heon felt no remorse for the disciple he had just killed. 'They threw me out, they left me to die. They didn't care for me when I went through Qi Deviation, so now I don't care for them when I kill their disciples,' he thought.

However, the third White Flame Root was not a part of his mission, but it was far too valuable to be left unused within the robes of a dead Mount Hua Sect member. So Ri Seung-Heon took the root for himself, and lied about its presence to the Head Guardian when confronted about any other spiritual medicines.

And now that White Flame Root has become of use, as Ri Seung-Heon stood up off the floor with his eyes still closed with a dark red hue materializing around him.

'I didn't have a realization this time, but my qi shot through the roof. I should be on par with a master in the Realm of Truth in terms of internal energy, and thanks to the battle experience I've gotten from being with the Illusion Fist Squad, I could probably fight Squad Leader on even terms now.' Ri Seung-Heon thought as he opened his eyes and placed his hand over his dantian.

However, after feeling the new weight of his dantian for several moments, Ri Seung-Heon moved to his bed and laid down upon it.

'I'm grateful that the Third Demon Star found me on that day, and I'm thankful that Mount Hua disciple was stupid enough to raid a Demonic Cult storehouse. Otherwise I wouldn't be here today, being able to do what I want as long as I follow the orders I'm given.'

Ri Seung-Heon then dragged the covers over his body.

'I'll rest for a couple days while adapting to the energy I just absorbed, then I'll start training for the raid…' Ri Seung-Heon thought before closing his eyes.

---

"That's enough swings Myeol Mang, you can take a rest now." Seo Jun said.

"Great…" Myeol Mang slowly replied as he slid his sword into its sheath.

"I'm still astonished that he managed to finish seven hundred diagonal slashes in less than two hours." Mi Yeon said as she stared at Myeol Mang, who had sat down on the floor after sheathing his sword.

"Yeah, but we witnessed the pace of his last hundred swings with our own eyes, I know for sure that he wasn't lying based on the pace of his swings."

"Speaking of his swings, Myeol Mang, were you using your internal energy while you were swinging your sword?" Mi Yeon asked as she handed Myeol Mang a bucket filled with water.

"Yeah I was, why do you ask?" Myeol Mang replied before taking a sip from the bucket.

"Well, that explains the hue then." Seo Jun sighed out.

"Why are you two curious about a hue around my body while I was swinging?"

"Well, usually when you have a hue around your body you're just using your internal energy to fortify your body to make it stronger and faster. But sometimes when you start having extremely fast progress with your training, especially when training with a weapon, your body will start having a realization without you noticing it. So you having that hue around your body alongside your progress today made us question which of the two was happening with you."

"Oh, okay. So you two were just worried that I would have a realization in front of you two and surpass you?"

"You've already on par with three of us in terms of internal energy, you know." Mi Yeon snickered out.

"What?"

"I said that you're already on par with three of us in terms of internal energy. Seo Jun, Sang Chul and I all are in the Realm of Acceptance."

"Wait, you three are in the Realm of Acceptance?! How long have you been training in martial arts?"

"Four years or so. Are you starting to realize why you're so special, Myeol Mang?"

"Yeah, I am… Wait! What realm is Seok Hwan and Master Tang in?"

"Well, Seok Hwan is in the Realm of Truth, and Master Tang is in the Realm of Comprehension."

"The Realm of Comprehension!? Master Tang is that far ahead?"

"Well duh, he wouldn't be able to teach us martial arts if he wasn't far stronger than us. I mean what martial artist would try to teach someone who is stronger than them?"

"An unorthodox one I guess."