Lee Hameng

Lee Hameng is the Demonic Cult's Left Guardian, the Fire King, and the chief of the Demonic Academy. He begins as an uncompromising examiner of Chun Yeowun, but Yeowun's conduct and martial growth gradually turn him into one of the new Lord's most dependable senior officers.

Biography

Fire King and Academy Chief

Lee Hameng is introduced with long red hair, the title Fire King, and authority second only to a few of the cult's highest figures. As Left Guardian he is one of the reigning Lord's three protectors and closest advisers; as academy chief he must keep the heirs' political factions from turning training into open civil war. He announces the academy's brutal rules, makes clear that princely status grants no exemption, and treats failure as the cadet's responsibility rather than the institution's. (Chapters 8–10)

That public severity conceals a narrow mission from Chun Yujong. The Lord orders that Yeowun receive a fair opportunity despite entering without clan instruction, so Hameng permits Submeng to infiltrate the academy and teach him. Secret tutoring violates the rules Hameng enforces, and he watches Submeng closely instead of granting unrestricted access. The compromise defines his early position: he will not manufacture Yeowun's victories, but he will prevent the six clans from deciding the contest before Yeowun can participate. (Chapters 15–19)

Judging Chun Yeowun

Hameng initially regards Yeowun as an untrained complication. Each examination forces him to revise that judgment. Yeowun learns at a rate the instructors cannot explain, protects weaker cadets rather than treating them as expendable, and reconstructs techniques after seeing them. When Hameng studies Yeowun's sword movement, he recognizes the foundation of the Sword Art of the Sky Demon but also sees corrections and transitions absent from the cult's inherited version. That discovery makes Yeowun's growth a matter of lineage and succession, not merely academy ranking. (Chapters 29, 69)

As academy chief, Hameng also controls one of the three keys required to open the Sword Demon's sealed treasure vault. He participates in the guarded opening and witnesses the crisis surrounding its legacy. Yeowun's survival and his defeat of the transformed Elder Baek confirm that the cadet has outgrown the academy's ordinary framework. Hameng thereafter meets Yeowun discreetly, exchanges information with his faction, and increasingly acts as a senior officer evaluating a possible Lord rather than an instructor policing a student. (Chapters 132–138, 186)

Cult Conflict and the Cost of Guardianship

The conflict inside the cult brings Hameng's two offices together. During the confrontation with the Wise clan, he stands with Yeowun's side, draws the red Flame Sword, and places a line of force qi between the factions as both warning and battlefield boundary. He later draws the same weapon when Mu Jinwon threatens the Lord. These interventions show that his authority is backed by immediate violence: academy regulations, guardian duty, and succession law matter only while someone strong enough can enforce them. (Chapters 164–170, 191)

Hameng is badly injured while fighting Sahin alone. Even with severe internal damage, he uses his movement skill to carry warning and assistance rather than stopping to recover. The episode exposes the limit of his rank: he can delay a superior threat and preserve information, but doing so damages his internal circulation and leaves him unable to sustain his best techniques. When the old regime later turns on Yeowun's supporters, Hameng and Submeng are arrested despite their guardian titles. Their imprisonment demonstrates that loyalty to the cult and loyalty to its sitting Lord have become incompatible. (Chapters 202–206, 229, 249–250)

Service under the New Lord

After Yeowun takes control, Hameng returns to his proper office and becomes part of the institutional continuity of the new order. He carries announcements, supplies historical context, and remains a living connection between academy custom, guardian authority, and the cult's archives. Yeowun first hears the old account of the Blade God's appearance from Hameng and later checks it against the Historical Records as Lord. Hameng's value therefore extends beyond combat: he remembers which fragments of martial history the cult preserved and understands why those fragments matter to its present enemies. (Chapters 258, 402, 421)

Appearance and personality

Hameng is a middle-aged man with long red hair, a feature echoed by his Fire King title. He normally presents a severe, controlled expression befitting an academy chief. He is impatient with excuses and visibly irritated by Submeng's disorderly behavior, but he is not intellectually rigid: repeated evidence changes his view of Yeowun. His willingness to enforce harsh rules while secretly protecting a fair contest makes him pragmatic rather than sentimental.

Martial arts and abilities

Guardian-level cultivation

Hameng ranks among the Demonic Cult's ten strongest warriors. His internal energy supports projected force qi, high-speed movement, and sustained combat against elite opponents. His solitary battle with Sahin also establishes the ceiling of that power: forcing himself onward after taking internal injuries lets him deliver a warning, but it does not erase damage to his meridians and circulation. (Chapters 8, 202–206)

Flame Sword and sword force

Hameng carries a red sword identified as the Flame Sword. He can coat or extend its attacks with force qi and use a projected line as a precise threat separating hostile groups. The surviving account does not describe the weapon producing literal fire, so his Fire King title should not by itself be read as proof of a particular flame technique. (Chapters 164–170, 191)

Control of Force Energy

He can manipulate internal energy outside the body with the refinement expected of a superior martial artist. This allows him to turn a sword gesture into a distant cutting or blocking presence instead of depending only on the physical reach of the blade. Maintaining such projection still depends on concentration and an undamaged internal-energy flow. (Chapter 112; Chapters 164–170)

Movement and endurance

Hameng possesses a running skill fast enough to cross dangerous ground while injured. It is a transport and pursuit advantage rather than invulnerability; using it after the Sahin fight worsens the strain he is already carrying. (Chapters 202–206)

Martial analysis and command

Years of administering examinations give him an unusually broad reference point for technique. He distinguishes imitation from structural improvement and recognizes that Yeowun's reconstructed forms share the Sky Demon art's foundation while resolving flaws in the transmitted version. He also coordinates instructors, examinations, vault access, and security while balancing the Lord's secret instruction against public neutrality. (Chapters 8–19, 29, 69, 132–138)

Relationships

• Chun Yeowun: Hameng begins as his skeptical evaluator, protects the fairness of his opportunity on the old Lord's order, and ultimately serves him as the cult's new Lord.
• Marakim: A fellow guardian who watches the academy with him.
• Submeng: The Right Guardian. Hameng supervises his illicit academy tutoring, quarrels with his methods, and is later imprisoned beside him.
• Chun Yujong: Hameng serves as his close adviser but eventually refuses to let the old regime's commands override the cult's future.

Items

• Flame Sword: Hameng's red personal weapon and the focus for his projected sword force. He draws it when negotiations are about to become open combat. (Chapters 164–170, 191)
• Sword Demon Skill Books: As academy chief, Hameng holds one of the three keys to the guarded treasure room containing the Sword Demon's preserved martial legacy. The books are later burned during the vault attack, making his custodial access unable to preserve their knowledge. (Chapters 137, 207)