Hu Bong

Hu Bong is the first cadet to volunteer himself as Chun Yeowun's servant and one of the most persistent members of his growing faction.

Biography

The first servant

Hu Bong enters the Demonic Academy as the twenty-third cadet and approaches Yeowun when the seventh prince has no faction of his own. He kneels, asks to become Yeowun's servant, and thereby gives the isolated prince the first member of the independent force he had hoped to build. The pledge is not a convenient academy alliance in Hu Bong's eyes. He immediately treats Yeowun's instructions as binding, running to fetch an instructor when ordered and publicly defining himself through the position he has chosen. (Chapters 24–25)

As more capable cadets join, Hu Bong repeatedly insists that he remains the “first servant.” The boast has a comic edge, but his loyalty is practical as well as vocal. He encourages the group to train instead of assuming Yeowun will solve every danger for them, and he rejects attempts to frighten the faction apart by arguing that a prince without one of the Six Clans cannot survive. Hu Bong's early value is therefore not that he is the strongest recruit, but that he commits before Yeowun's success is secure and helps turn personal allegiance into a functioning group. (Chapters 46, 65, and 143)

Training with Yeowun's faction

Hu Bong receives opportunities that match Yeowun's belief that his followers must become able to protect themselves. When the group obtains the Black Dragon Ball, Hu Bong is among those whose lack of top-class internal energy would otherwise prevent them from learning the Seven Demon Sword. The resulting increase gives him the foundation needed to attempt more advanced instruction. Later, Yeowun selects a master-level skill book suited to him and teaches the Force of Mixed Origin breathing method rather than giving every subordinate the same generic path. Hu Bong also volunteers to test a dark medicinal liquid that cleanses accumulated impurities; the painful expulsion of toxins leaves his body and energy in better condition. (Chapters 46, 108, and 124)

After the academy, he and Ko Wanghur help Yeowun contact clans and consolidate supporters within the cult. When Yeowun's confrontation with the sitting Lord makes obedience dangerous, Hu Bong is the first subordinate to declare that he will follow Yeowun regardless of whom they must oppose. His declaration helps the others state the same choice and confirms that his original servant's oath has survived the transition from school rivalry to a succession struggle that could brand them traitors. (Chapters 183 and 212)

Lieutenant and traveling retainer

Under Yeowun's lordship, Hu Bong becomes lieutenant to Palace Guard leader Hou Jinchang. At the time he is described as an end-stage master, making the responsibility unusually high for his cultivation, but the appointment reflects years of reliability rather than raw strength alone. On the journey through Yulin he continues to handle the work around the battles: supporting injured companions, maintaining supplies, and helping keep the party functional while stronger specialists pursue the main objective. (Chapters 264 and 270)

His attachment to Yeowun is especially clear during the collapse of a cave. When Yeowun falls, Hu Bong tries to leap after him and has to be restrained. The impulse is reckless, yet it shows that Hu Bong does not understand service as standing safely behind his Lord. Later, when members of the party are captured beneath the Imperial Palace, he is openly distressed by the possibility that operational necessity will force the group to leave them behind. Yeowun's refusal to abandon his people answers that fear and reinforces the reciprocal loyalty at the center of the faction. (Chapters 274 and 357)

Near death beneath the Imperial Palace

Hu Bong enters the underground palace while operating in disguise and pursues the enemy despite being outmatched. Captured and used as leverage, he decides that warning Yeowun matters more than preserving his own life. He resists in a way meant to deny the captor control and receives a cut across the neck. Yeowun's response makes clear that Hu Bong is not an expendable servant: he kills the attacker and urgently seeks a way to save the subordinate who tried to die rather than burden him. (Chapters 359 and 364)

Guardian Ran-yeong uses diluted Qilin blood to repair the otherwise fatal damage. Because the blood's extreme yang heat normally makes it deadly to a man, Yeowun cools it while Ran-yeong transfers it into Hu Bong. The treatment regenerates his body, and Ran-yeong then entrusts him with part of her own flame energy. Hu Bong undergoes a violent bodily transformation as damaged skin cracks away, but he survives and fully absorbs the real Qilin Flame. When he awakens, he can create flame without the red scales Ran-yeong ordinarily needs and produces it successfully on his first attempt. (Chapters 365–367)

Flame-bearing officer

The transformed Hu Bong returns to duty as both combatant and officer. He coats his blade in flame to protect Yeowun, burns a small tree to ash almost instantly during a demonstration, and is treated by an observer as a warrior of roughly the superior-master class. He still announces himself proudly as Yeowun's first subordinate, but the title now accompanies formal authority as an escort lieutenant rather than academy bravado. (Chapters 373, 382, and 394)

His later conduct also shows improved restraint. During the dispute over the Dragon Turtle, he can assess the situation instead of reacting only with outrage. When Hou Sangwha loses control, Hu Bong uses flame, an energy barrier, and force qi while trying to subdue rather than kill her, although the encounter leaves him with broken ribs after Ko Wanghur intervenes. By the final operation he is directing exhausted cultists and keeping them moving, a culmination of his growth from the first volunteer in Yeowun's faction into a dependable field lieutenant. (Chapters 419, 469, and 477)

Appearance and personality

The supplied chapters characterize Hu Bong more consistently through conduct than physical detail. He is outspoken, emotionally transparent, and fiercely proud of serving Yeowun. His claim to be the “first servant” can make him boastful or comic, and he is quick to protest an insult or rush toward a threatened companion. Those impulses sometimes outrun his judgment, as when he tries to follow Yeowun into a collapsing cave.

His loyalty is nevertheless more than a running joke. He accepts dangerous experiments, refuses to abandon Yeowun during the succession crisis, and is prepared to sacrifice himself rather than become leverage against his Lord. With experience, that emotional devotion develops into practical leadership. By the later conflicts he can assess a tense situation, restrain a dangerous ally without immediately killing her, manage weary fighters, and carry the responsibility of a lieutenant.

Martial arts and abilities

Cultivation and martial foundation

Hu Bong begins far below the greatest members of Yeowun's faction, but advances through training and resources deliberately shared by his Lord. Energy from the Black Dragon Ball supplies the top-class internal-energy foundation needed to approach the Seven Demon Sword. Yeowun later gives him a master-level manual selected for his aptitude and teaches the Force of Mixed Origin breathing method. The body-cleansing medicine Hu Bong volunteers to test expels accumulated impurities rather than functioning as an instant combat technique. Together these interventions improve the foundation on which his own continued training depends. (Chapters 46, 108, and 124)

By his appointment as a Palace Guard lieutenant he is at the end stage of the master level. He later reaches the super-master realm before the Imperial Palace operation, and after his Qilin transformation an outside observer judges his displayed force to be around the superior-master level. These descriptions mark real progression but are contextual assessments, not proof that every stage came solely from flame energy. (Chapters 264, 364, and 382)

Sword, force qi, and defense

Hu Bong fights primarily at close range with a blade. His cultivation lets him project sword or force qi, reinforce an attack, and form an energy barrier strong enough to withstand part of Hou Sangwha's violent assault. After gaining flame control, he can combine the two systems rather than treating fire as a separate spectacle: his weapon becomes a sword of flame, and he can heat or envelop a target while maintaining defensive qi. His attempt to stop Hou Sangwha also demonstrates an important practical limit. Even with flame and a barrier, he can be injured by powerful peers and is not invulnerable. (Chapters 373 and 469)

Qilin blood and flame control

Hu Bong's defining later ability comes from an emergency treatment, not an ordinary cultivation breakthrough. Diluted Qilin blood regenerates the wound across his neck after Yeowun suppresses its lethal heat. Ran-yeong then transfers part of her flame energy into him, triggering a Phantom Metamorphosis that restructures his body. On awakening, Hu Bong can generate the Qilin Flame directly, without relying on the scale manifestation Ran-yeong uses. The flame can be concentrated on his sword, projected from a hand, or released intensely enough to reduce a small tree to ash in moments. (Chapters 365–367, 373, and 382)

The power remains less mature than Yeowun's far greater spirit-beast energy. Early after the transformation, observers describe part of Hu Bong's new energy as still dormant, and later scenes show him controlling flame qi successfully rather than wielding an unlimited source. His achievement is stable command of a dangerous yang-aligned power within his own body, with potency governed by his cultivation, control, and physical condition. (Chapters 368, 441, and 469)

Field command

Hu Bong's martial value includes command and support. He serves directly beneath Hou Jinchang, accompanies sensitive operations, and directs other Demonic Cult warriors when fatigue and confusion threaten their formation. He is not presented as the faction's chief strategist, but years beside Yeowun make him a reliable lieutenant who can translate orders into action and keep less experienced fighters moving. (Chapters 264, 394, and 477)

Power progression

Relationships

• Chun Yeowun: Hu Bong voluntarily becomes his servant and remains an unusually vocal and dependable follower.
• Hou Jinchang: Hu Bong serves as lieutenant beneath the Palace Guard leader.
• Bakgi: A fellow long-term subordinate whose lightning energy is compared with Hu Bong's flames.
• Yang Danwa: A traveling companion whom Hu Bong assists while Yang is recovering from injury.

Items

The supplied chapters do not consistently identify a named signature item for Hu Bong.