With that said, Heero stepped aside and went to a good spot for watching the spar. He did not intend to tell the lazy Bearded Wang that he was far stronger than Dong-Woo. He just liked teasing him.
As Heero left, Dong-Woo and Butcher Wang exchanged stares. Dong-Woo's eyes resolute and firm, he was not daunted even Teacher Xing repeatedly told him that he was weaker than Butcher Wang.
Facing such kind of eyes, Butcher Wang turned a little bit nervous. But then, he remembered Heero would be the referee which meant his safety was guaranteed.
'The kid is not even afraid of me, why should I be afraid of a mere kid?'
'Urgh, wait… that is the problem, how come the kid is not afraid of me or not even getting a little nervous? Does that mean he is confident that he will win against me? Does he have another trump card beside the awakened ability?'
'Nah, I can't become like this, I have to calm down…' Butcher Wang took a long breath and exhaled it out afterward. He repeated the same action three times.
'There's nothing to be worried about, as long as the fist doesn't hit me, everything is fine… I will observe him first just like hunting...'
Soon, Butcher Wang's wavering eyes focused on his prey. Yes, he was a hunter, not just an ordinary fighter from any other martial house. His habit before hunting his prey was to observe his prey before he started hunting.
Dong-Woo was oblivious to Butcher Wang's thoughts, but he did not know, somehow, Butcher Wang's gaze was akin to a beast gazing at its prey. It made him comfortable, but once again, he was confident with his awakened ability.
He immediately shook his uncomfortable feeling out, 'It will be over as long as I land a hit on him once! Just once!'
With that thought in his mind, Kang Dong-Woo rushed forward. Of course, as he advanced he immediately activated his awakened ability. Dong-Woo's speed could be considered fast for a thirteen years old boy, but not in Butcher Wang's eyes.
Soon, the distance between the two shortened. Dong-Woo immediately delivered his right fist forward with a hope his punch hit Butcher Wang. Unfortunately, the fist hit the empty air.
However, the boy remained calm and collected as he had predicted Butcher Wang would dodge his fist. He made a simple move to observe his opponent as well, he was collecting his opponent's data.
However, the thing that happened next was out of his expectation, a mind-blowing for Dong-Woo. As his punch failed to hit the target, a gush of strong wind hit his cheeks. After that, Dong-Woo could no longer see Butcher Wang.
What he could see was only a silhouette that moved randomly. He knew the silhouetted who moved at an incredible speed was Butcher Wang, but his movement was just too fast for his eyes to follow.
For a moment, he noticed the silhouette moved to his back. He followed, but then it moved again. Moreover, Dong-Woo found out the movement was random. It did not have a pattern which made it harder to follow.
While Dong-Woo was thinking hard how to counter such fast and random movement, Butcher Wang was observing the boy. He noticed Dong-Woo failed to catch his speed and there were many openings at Dong-Woo's stance.
Usually, Butcher Wang would launch his surprise attack by now, but he remained cautious as his opponent was a human, not a beast. Dong-Woo might be purposely showing his weakness. It was a trap, so he would attack and Dong-Woo would counter him.
'I will observe him a little longer!'
With that, Heero watched the spar oddly. Butcher Wang was moving around Dong-Woo, and it lasted for three minutes.
'Don't tell me that Bearded Wang was intimidated by Dong-Woo?' Heero could not help but think like this. With just a glance, it was clear Dong-Woo could not follow Butcher Wang's movement. Even so, Butcher Wang was just moving around, not attacking.
Just as he wanted to protest, reminding Bearded Wang and Dong-Woo to fight properly, he noticed a change at Butcher Wang's movement. Before, Butcher Wang circled Dong-Woo within a safe distance, but then, Butcher Wang was getting closer to Dong-Woo.
Butcher Wang prepared to make his attack. Sure enough, not long after that, Butcher Wang appeared right behind Dong-Woo. He immediately struck his fist toward the boy's head.
Dong-Woo was clueless that danger approached from his back. He was busy tracing Butcher Wang as he suddenly found Butcher Wang vanished from his sight.
"Arghh!"
Dong-Woo started to panic, but then he heard a pained yell from his back. He immediately turned around and saw Butcher Wang retreating while holding his right fist.
"Bearded Wang! I said to go all out, but not to kill him!"
Then another voice resounded from the side. Kang Dong-Woo looked in that direction. Teacher Xing was standing below a lush tree while pointing his finger toward Butcher Wang. However, after hearing those words, Kang Dong-Woo stunned.
With a bewildered and confusion filled all over his face, Dong-Woo looked at Butcher Wang who painfully rubbed his fist. He was still confused about what happened.
Afterward, Heero went to Butcher Wang. They had a short talk and Dong-Woo was clueless as for what his Teacher and Senior Brother talked about. What he saw was, both whispered at each other and then, Heero went back to his beforehand spot.
Kang Dong-Woo was confused, but there was a change in Butcher Wang. After the talk, Butcher Wang kept smiling evilly at him. Though he did not know why he felt something bad was about to happen to him.
"Kiddo! Are you ready for the second round?" Butcher Wang shouted. Heero eventually had to tell Butcher Wang what this spar fight was for. Heero also did not forget to tell him, the fact Dong-Woo looked down at him, telling him that Dong-Woo would not call him Senior Brother if he did not defeat the boy in the spar.
It certainly provoked Bearded Wang, not only to beat the boy but crushing the boy thoroughly. Sure enough, Butcher Wang was a bit pissed off upon hearing that. He would gladly become the bad guy so the boy would respect him.
"I am ready!" Kang Dong-Woo nodded his head and got into his stance. Taking a deep breath, he was ready to fight again.
Butcher Wang smirked, this time he wanted to take a different approach. He had collected the most important data. His opponent was weaker and the thing he needed to be cautious was the boy's awakened ability.
'Heh, but I don't have to be worried about that… as long as you can't catch up with my speed, that awakened ability of yours is useless,' Butcher Wang snickered inwardly.
Whoosh!
Butcher Wang took the initiative to attack. He charged toward the boy with his frightening speed. Once again, Kang Dong-Woo activated his awakened ability and delivered his punch straight.
Again, with his random movement, Butcher Wang dodged the fist to the side. Then, he bounced again to reach the boy's back. This time, he delivered a kick to the boy's ass.
'Heh, this is for looking down at me!'
Kang Dong-Woo crashed to the ground, but Butcher Wang hit him with a considerate strength. The boy only suffered scratches. However, the boy had not given up yet. He immediately stood up and turned around.
"Again!" Dong-Woo shouted fearlessly. He remained unconvinced that he was about to lose against someone who grew up in the outer region.
Butcher Wang's smirk became wider. He repeated the same move, but his kick landed on the boy's stomach. It continued for the next hour until Heero stopped the spar.
"Alright, it's enough! Dong-Woo, by now, you should realize that you are not his match, right?" Heero focused his gaze at the stubborn boy who kept looking at Butcher Wang.
"No, I can win! I can defeat him! Just once, I only need one punch to defeat him! Let's continue the spar!" With that said, Dong-Woo assumed a fighting stance.
Looking at the stubborn Dong-Woo, Heero let out a sigh. He was too naive to think the boy would change by a simple beating. There were two things he wanted to achieve from this spar. First, he wanted to tell Dong-Woo not to rely on his awakened ability too much.
Second, the pride that he wanted to crush. That pride that could kill him in the future, he always underestimated his opponent only based on the background. The same thing happened to their first meeting and now repeated to Butcher Wang.
"Good, you can continue, but you have to get back before five, okay? You have to take your medicine bath!" Heero agreed to let his two disciples continue, but he did not intend to be a referee any more.
"Good!" Dong-Woo readily agreed while his gaze remained focusing on his opponent.
Then, Heero approached Butcher Wang and said in a stern tone, "Crush him, but don't kill him! Also, you will be responsible for his safety!"
Having said that, Heero left the training ground. That day, the Kang Family's successor was crushed. Not only that, but he also began doubting his awakened ability.
*** ***
Heero went back to his shop and found the shop was crowded. It was not the usual crowd who ate, but the crowd surrounded a certain table as encouraging words resounded inside.
"Mumu, you can do it!"
"Don't lose to your friend, we support you Little Mu!"
Hearing this, Heero smiled.
'It must be that Mu Xue girl, so she came to challenge the Level 8!'
Yes, there was a spicy noodle on the menu, but it was only limited to Level 5. If one wanted to try Level 5 and above, they could try the challenge "Hot Hot". The challenge came with a money prize and it became pretty popular amongst the customer.
Little Me or Mumu was a regular who often tried the challenge, her name was Mu Xue. It was also she who named the challenge "Hot Hot". So far, she had completed Level 6 and Level 7 Hot Hot Challenge.
"So the girl has not given up yet…" Heero muttered in a low voice. This was not her first attempt at Level 8, but this was her fifth attempt.
The customers who cheered for Mu Xue recognized Heero. They greeted Heero and let him pass to reach Mu Xue's table. As he reached the table, he noticed Mu Xue was not alone, a beautiful girl accompanied her and it seemed the two girls were competing.
Their faces drenched in sweats, their face turned bright red, and their lips were a bit swollen. Even so, both girls kept slurping the noodles, they also did not forget to drink the spicy broth as they ate.
Beside the table, three glasses of milk and one glass of cold water were prepared. Beside Mu Xue, Heero saw two little girls cheered for Mu Xue and the other girl. Shen Miao and Myung-Hee also came to watch.
In three minutes, the two girls finished the noodles. They did not stop at this, Mu Xue and her friend brought the bowl to their mouth and emptied the spicy broth. After that, Mu Xue clicked the timer that had been set up for five minutes.
Yes, they could not drink the water or milk for five minutes after finishing the noodles. The timer went on, unfortunately, Mu Xue gave up when the timer showed 02:45.67.
She immediately grabbed a glass of milk and gulped it down. It was as if one glass was not enough, she finished another two glasses of milk after the first glass. After finishing three glasses of milk, Mu Xue's countenance turned better.
Meanwhile, Mu Xue's friend smirked at Mu Xue though she could not close her mouth because of the spiciness.
00:00.00
Mu Xue's friend completed the challenge, but right after the timer was over, she also immediately grabbed the milk. She finished the three glasses of milk in flash.
The crowd cheered for Mu Xue's friend, and today, Level 8 Hot Hot Challenge was completed. Mu Xue meanwhile waved her hand to the camera and said, "Alright guys, that's all for today streaming. Thank you for watching!"
Yes, Mu Xue was a streamer and she often came here, not only the noodle shop, but hot pot, barbecue, and all shops. She had visited every shop and it was also thanks to her that Xing District gained popularity faster.
"Buzz… You hafe retuned… it's gwood, let'z tade pikture…" Mu Xue lisped because of the spiciness. She fanned her lips while speaking.
Soon, Mu Xue's friend, Zhan Lin took a picture with Heero, Hong Yu, and Han Ying. There were also an additional two little girls, Shen Miao and Myung-Hee.
It was a tradition for the one who finished the challenge, the picture would be displayed in the shop after that. After taking the picture, Mu Xue immediately dragged her friend.
With the two main characters gone, the noodle shop returned to normal. However, it did not last long, two hours after that, the whole district turned abnormally boisterous. It was as if a big star visited the district.
Heero who just delivered the order furrowed his brows. However, soon, he found out what was the cause. The door was opened with a bang, then, "Master! I am back!"
Sun Zhou Yi charged at Heero at a frightening speed. He hugged Heero tightly and whispered, "Thank you~ Thank you for coming and save me~"
Meanwhile, Xiao Xi who followed Sun Zhou Yi here had an odd look. "Look at him, he hugs his master instead of his wife…" Xiao Xi muttered in a low voice.