Chapter Text
Yun Jong could go into dreams. It had always been his secret. Not one to pry into others’ lives, he didn’t look into their dreams as they slept, ignoring the pull so easy to tug.
Then a storm came to Mount Hua, named Cheongmyeong, once a beggar by the name of Cho Sam.
In half a year he secured funds they couldn’t imagine, giving power they hardly dreamed of, in two he doubled what he gave previously. He gave them the world and endless loyalty sullied by the pain and madness he infected them with.
Yet, even as one of the closest people to Cheongmyeong, the fifth sword of Mount Hua and one of the first to meet him, he knew nothing of the other.
Yun Jong never tried to hide his past on the streets before he was saved, nor did he demand the pasts of others, but it was odd to him how little he knew of Cheongmyeog’s.
What made a little beggar who got beaten over the head turn strong, change his name and run to save a ruined sect?
How did he gain his insight of the world and the boundless skill with fighting when he was so young? How much of his accomplishments were luck and how many were calculated by him?
Nothing about him made sense. The way he looked at the disciples, the emerald ribbon in his hair, the immaturity of a child contrasting with the wisdom of an elder in war. He could be spoken of for hours to figure him out and only end up more confused.
His disposition of the Magyo and the Great Ten Sects. The former was a shared hate, but not to the same extent, as if they personally wronged him. The latter was a place practically worshiped but somehow he was able to see through all of that, only seeing a cutthroat place that betrayed Mount Hua without a sliver of shame.
As time passed, and the corruption worsened, Yun Jong was more tempted to look into his, and the others’ dreams.
Jo Gul was strong and impulsive, a merchant’s son who never planned on staying in Mount Hua, only playing a swordsman in a starving sect before returning to a comfortable life as a merchant.
Had he truly forgotten his merchant roots to become a Taoist swordsman under Mount Hua’s rising banner?
Yu Iseol was quiet and deadly, a child of Mount Hua who nearly starved as her father gave his life in attempts to revitalize the sects’ techniques.
Was her dream simply to be powerful or was it only to please her father?
Baek Cheon was unshakable and determined, a runaway from Zhongnan who wanted to be the best swordsman and Sect Leader of a righteous sect his family once mocked.
Did his dreams have a place for his family he sought to defy?
Tang Soso was knowledgeable and terrifying, a girl of the Tang family who mastered medicine and wanted to be more than a wife bearing her clan’s name, finding her freedom and strength in Mount Hua.
How far did she wish to climb and did her family fit into her dreams?
Hye Yeon was powerful and kind, a Shaolin monk who foolishly followed Cheongmyeong for answers impossible to find.
Did he regret coming to Mount Hua and were his dreams just to return to Shaolin and become the next Abbot?
Yun Jong was restless, wanting to know these answers. He slipped out of his bed and tiptoed out of his room to Jo Gul’s.
He remembered when cracks lined the walls and scratches marred the ground. But thanks to Cheongmyeong, it was pristine, a luxury Yun Jong never thought he’d ever know. Maybe, if he knew, he could make the dreams come true like his had.
Wasting no time, Yun Jong made his way to Jo Gul and pulled himself into his dream with a touch.