The Tang Clan's Gold and Jade Leaf Challenges the Heavenly Demon
—‘Heavenly Demon Myeong-yun’ Channel’s Heavenly Demon Defeats Thailand’s ‘Phoenix’ Nok Amata.
—‘Heavenly Demon Myeong-yun’ Achieves an Unyielding 50-Win Streak. The World Record of 34 Wins Has Been Surpassed.
—Who Exactly Is This ‘Heavenly Demon’?
—A Fresh Wind of Murim Blows Through Virtual Reality; The Revival of Martial Arts and Chivalry.
Right after Myeong-yun felled Nok Amata, a flood of internet articles poured out.
It meant that it wasn’t only ordinary viewers who had been watching his stream.
While Korea had several famous VTubers, none had managed to capture global popularity.
Even with the growing virtual population, almost no one maintained tens of thousands of concurrent viewers on average.
There was the case of Muldangyi’s interview streams, but that success stemmed from the unique nature of her content.
In short, no one was pulling tens of thousands of viewers with pure gaming broadcasts alone.
Japan remained the dominant VTuber powerhouse, followed by populous nations such as the United States, India, and China.
Europe was slowly gaining traction when, like a comet, ‘Heavenly Demon Myeong-yun’ suddenly appeared—an anomaly, a calamity in the industry.
He had been streaming for just over a week, yet the sheer volume of attention he generated was staggering.
It would have been stranger if gaming and VTuber-related outlets had not flooded the web with articles.
In that sense, Myeong-yun’s “For Honor” broadcast had driven the final nail in.
Whenever Myeong-yun went live, other VTubers saw their viewer counts drop.
Some even turned off their own streams to watch his, while others deliberately avoided overlapping broadcast times.
In just one week, Myeong-yun had become a star whose name was slowly creeping into the algorithms of people who had never even heard of VTubers before.
The community grew even hotter as more people who had faced Myeong-yun came forward with their testimonies.
‘Heavenly Demon Myeong-yun’ was slowly spreading wider and wider.
As the Heavenly Demon Cult rose in the world and the Heavenly Demon’s infamy began to spread, it truly felt like the murim of old.
The world Myeong-yun desired was slowly taking root.
* * *
“You vile demonic fiend! I, Dang So-cheong, the cherished daughter of the righteous Sichuan Tang Clan, shall be your opponent!”
“Hmm… Do people usually refer to themselves as ‘cherished daughters’?”
At Myeong-yun’s question, the VTuber Dang So-cheong answered with her face flushed bright red.
“I-It’s part of the setting! Just play along, please!”
“I see. Very well, then……”
A murim match that finally connected around his 77th win.
Dang So-cheong had queued on a whim, never expecting to actually match, yet here she was, standing before Myeong-yun.
She had seen him plenty of times through videos, but facing him in person brought an overwhelming sense of pressure.
She stared at Myeong-yun, tension coiled tight in her body.
‘Where did he get that avatar model? It’s really well made.’
Just as that odd thought crossed her mind, Myeong-yun continued.
“Daughter of the Sichuan Tang Clan, you dare challenge this seat? Even the one once called the Poison King of the Tang Clan could not defeat me.”
“I will be different!”
“No. You are the same. Myriad poisons do not work on this seat. How could the Tang Clan’s poison arts possibly harm me?”
“We won’t know until we try!”
“You sound confident in your martial arts. Very well. I shall look forward to it, cherished daughter of the Tang Clan.”
Most of the chat in Myeong-yun’s stream was now focused on the adorable-looking Dang So-cheong who had suddenly appeared.
Meanwhile, in Dang So-cheong’s own stream—where roughly twelve hundred viewers were watching—the comments were quite different.
Quite a few viewers felt secondhand embarrassment from Dang So-cheong’s awkward RP and pointed out her stiff acting.
“A-Ah, what do you want me to do?! Just watch quietly! I’m about to show the Heavenly Demon the ultimate technique I practiced so hard for!”
Dang So-cheong whispered to her own chat.
Myeong-yun chuckled softly as he watched, then asked,
“Finished? Then show me what you’ve prepared.”
The grandfatherly tone, as if watching a granddaughter’s cute performance, slightly annoyed Dang So-cheong.
She was wearing the same broadcast avatar outfit as Myeong-yun.
Her green-tinged robes emphasized mobility. The moment the match began, she quickly created distance.
Then she fluttered the long sleeves of her robe and drew flying daggers from within.
It was her secret weapon, one she had practiced diligently even after ending her stream.
“Ho.”
Myeong-yun watched with interest as Dang So-cheong prepared.
As a Sichuan Tang Clan VTuber, she had apparently trained in hidden weapons.
He found it rather admirable.
“Take this! Heavenly Demon! So-cheong Style Flying Dagger Art!”
The daggers in both her hands sliced through the air at a surprisingly nimble speed.
Truly flying daggers!
Yet Myeong-yun made no move, simply standing with his hands clasped behind his back as the blades flew toward him.
Thud. Thud-thud!
The reason he hadn’t moved was simple.
Dang So-cheong’s daggers had completely missed him and embedded themselves in the wrong places.
“Hmm… Your hidden weapon technique shows promise, but it seems you need more practice.”
“M-My hands weren’t warmed up yet!”
“Is that so? I shall give you another chance. Try again.”
“Ugh!”
Dang So-cheong gritted her teeth and hurled more daggers at Myeong-yun.
This time they landed at his feet.
It looked like she had practiced, but her accuracy was abysmal. Myeong-yun was about to laugh when—
Whoosh!
One dagger flew straight at him.
Myeong-yun snatched it out of the air with his bare hand.
One success out of four throws.
But instead of celebrating, Dang So-cheong stood frozen with her mouth agape, more shocked that he had caught a flying blade barehanded without a scratch.
“H-How did you catch that?”
“…It was flying toward me?”
Dang So-cheong gritted her teeth and threw again.
Her hands seemed to have loosened up; her accuracy had improved slightly.
Myeong-yun caught every single dagger aimed at him.
Now five daggers rested in his possession.
Dang So-cheong patted herself down, realized she had no more daggers left, and made a crestfallen expression.
Then, in a rather pitiful voice, she asked,
“C-Could you… maybe return the daggers?”
“……”
Myeong-yun briefly pressed his fingers to his brow at her request.
Was the future of the Sichuan Tang Clan truly in the hands of this airheaded girl?
After a moment of thought, he took a few steps back and spoke.
“Come and retrieve them.”
“Th-Thank you!”
Dang So-cheong scurried over, collected the daggers from the ground and the ones in Myeong-yun’s hand, and stuffed them back into her dagger pouch.
She then quickly put distance between them again and shouted,
“Vile demonic leader of the Heavenly Demon Cult! From now on, I shall show you my true skill!”
“You’re going to drive me mad.”
Perhaps that was precisely her charm, because no one seemed offended.
The jianghu was supposed to be all about real combat, but this was virtual reality.
One could afford to indulge her the way a grandfather might humor his granddaughter.
Dang So-cheong threw her daggers once more. Myeong-yun ignored the ones that missed and snatched only the ones aimed at him, then—
Clang! Clang-clang!
—precisely intercepted them.
Catching a flying dagger and intercepting one mid-air were two entirely different skills.
“Huh?!”
“This is the Heavenly Demon Flying Dagger Art.”
Moreover, Myeong-yun had just used a single dagger to deflect multiple incoming blades.
As a result, even though Dang So-cheong had run out of daggers, Myeong-yun still had one left.
An absurd situation.
Dang So-cheong asked pitifully once more.
“Can I… go pick them up again……?”
“No. There will not be a second time.”
Myeong-yun raised the dagger and aimed it at her.
She tried to surrender in a cowardly rush, but Myeong-yun’s words and hand were faster.
“When throwing daggers, be concise and swift. Relax your strength and use the momentum of your wrist.”
Whoosh!
The dagger flew at more than twice the speed of any Dang So-cheong had thrown and buried itself in her chest.
He had aimed for the heart rather than the head out of consideration.
Thanks to that, the pain and fear were minimal.
Moreover, the speed was so great that she hadn’t even realized she had been hit.
“Come back after more practice, cherished daughter of the Sichuan Tang Clan.”
“How frustrating…!!”
—Match concluded!
—Winner: ‘Heavenly Demon Myeong-yun’
The conclusion came in an instant.
Dang So-cheong collapsed limply, admitting defeat, while Myeong-yun merely shrugged at the anticlimactic fight.
Thus, Myeong-yun reached his 78th consecutive win. Only 22 more remained until his goal of 100.
Since the stream began, he had not rested for even a moment.
His tremendous stamina and skill had pushed his viewer count past seventy thousand and toward eighty thousand.
The chat was filled with waves of encouragement.
Meanwhile, in the private group chat filled with “For Honor” veterans…
The ones who had been waiting to hunt Myeong-yun finally began to move.