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The uneven light of the fire illuminated two hunched figures, casting shadows on the vaults of the caves. Baekcheon stirred the coals in the fire, biting his lips, shadows lay on his once beautiful face, and his skin became too pale due to the depletion of qi channels. When he closed his eyelids, the deaths of others appeared before his eyes, haunting them one after another, as a curse or punishment for their overconfidence in the face of the true god; Gwak Hee, the one they still had the opportunity to bury; Baeksang, whom they had to leave; Yoo Iseol, of whom there was no trace When she rushed at thousands of enemies; Yoon Jong and Jo Geol, screaming to retreat; Soso, who patched up their wounds for the last time and threw medicine; even Monk Hyeyeon and Baek-ah…
They were left alone with Cheongmyeong against an endless army.
"I'll stand guard, rest for now," Baekcheon wrapped himself more tightly in his cape, gray and torn, knowing that it was not worth wasting qi on something as meaningless as escaping from the cold. "Cheongmyeong-ah?"
When Cheongmyeong didn't answer, staring blankly at the center of the fire, Baekcheon walked over to him, sitting down next to him. He had only seen his saje so depressed when they found the remains of their ancestor in one of the caves of the Ten Thousand Mountains. It has been a long time since Baekcheon saw Cheongmyeong not just sleeping, but also resting, although they have not been separated for the last few days, fighting off persecution. It was a desperate situation, they both knew it; and they both weren't going to give up.
"Sasuk," Cheongmyeong unexpectedly called him first, waiting for him to sit next to him before continuing to speak. "This is the second time I've seen Dongryong so ugly."
Cheongmyeong might have chuckled, but Baekcheon didn't have the strength to react angrily to such a joke, as usual. He was waiting for Cheongmyeong to finally be able to tell him something important.
"To be honest, I don't really like sentiment. They are very embarrassing. But you never know when you will see a person for the last time.…"
He never thought that Tang Bo would die in his arms; he never thought that his last words to Jangmun-sahyung would be full of discontent and anger; he never thought that his Saje would wait for his sluggish Sahyung for a hundred years.
After reading everything on his face, Baekcheon stopped him,
"Cheongmyeong-ah, I won't let us die so easily... "
"Sasuk, listen when people talk," there was a feigned displeasure in his voice, and then Cheongmyeong continued. "You know, you weren't my worst disciple. No, you can say that you have exceeded all expectations… I really liked your speech in the North Sea about how sect Mount Hua does not shed blood for those who do not do it in return. But don't be too proud of it, okay?"
Baekcheon felt like Cheongmyeong was saying goodbye to him. Was he going to go out one-on-one with a Heavenly Demon? Baekcheon clenched his scabbard, showing his desire to stay until the end and die first, protecting his sajae.
Stubborn brat, Cheongmyeong thought, smiling.
"Don't worry, sasuke," he reached out with his hand towards Baekcheon's face. "I'm not going to fight alone."
"Then…"
"I'm sorry, Sasuk."
You're going to have to get some sleep.
After Cheongmyeong lightly touched his forehead, the world in front of Baekcheon's eyes blurred. He tried to grab Cheongmyeong's shoulder with a death grip, not wanting to let go, but missed. His hand fell limply, touching the ground. Cheongmyeong touched his face with his fingers, running from his temples to his chin and brushing the uneven strands of hair from his face; he looked so tired. After thinking for a while, Cheongmyeong untied the headband with the plum blossom embroidered on it and tied it around his wrist.
When the fire went out, Cheongmyeong left the cave, pulling the hood of his robe over his face. He had a small bundle in his hands, in which a small child was sleeping without a hint that he would wake up soon.
Cheongmyeong walked forward, through deserted roads blurred by the downpour, through burned and devastated villages where not even beggars remained, through Sichuan province with the Tang family house empty for the second time in his memory. He walked past the mountains where Shaolin was located, passing the destroyed statues of Buddhas. He passed by the gate of the Southern Edge Sect, from which the sign with the name of the sect fell, but it did not cause an ounce of joy in his heart. He reached Huaying, returning here not as a host, but as a guest. The black silhouettes that had been chasing him all along the way appeared out of the darkness, escorting him to his own home, Mount Hua. Every step across the rocky terrain was familiar, but at the same time different.
Ten Thousand Mountains always change their location, depending on where the demonic cult has settled.
And now that was the name of the former Mount Hua
Cheongmyeong climbed the mountain, stepping onto the road where the sect's gate used to stand, which was demolished. One of the Bishops came up to him to take away the Dark Fragrance and the bundle with the child. Cheongmyeong gave him a cold look, slowly untied the scabbard and put it in his outstretched hands, still clutching the bundle to himself; no one said anything.
As if Cheongmyeong had descended to the lowest levels of Diyu, at the very end of the path stood a pale-skinned creature in a robe with an embroidered dragon on it. There were fewer black marks on his skin, unlike in the past. He turned slowly to the newcomer, giving him a calm look and stopping at the package.
"What a sweet child."
"…"
Cheongmyeong knew that if he answered right now, he would not hold back and attack this bastard. But he couldn't, not now. Not when he had a very young Dongryong in his arms.
"You did it anyway, disciple of Mount Hua," Cheonma pointed ahead. "As long as my seal is on this child, he will not remember anything and will live his quiet life."
Until the Heavenly Demon comes again in that world.
Cheongmyeong slowly opened his mouth, intending to ask the last thing that bothered him before leaving,
"Even though you said you were going to do me a favor… I don't believe you."
Cheonma was not at all embarrassed. After a short silence, he answered evasively,
"While you were living your life in this body, gaining strength, I had time to think," Cheongmyeong frowned as he uttered the last part of the sentence. "Disciple and I are not much different. So this deal could lead to another unexpected consequence."
Cheongmyeong didn't ask anything else. He went where Cheonma pointed him, closing his eyes from sudden dizziness and finding himself in an alley of a busy street.
It was Xi'an more than a hundred years ago.
Cheongmyeong took a deep breath into his chest, feeling very nervous. His hands trembled with anticipation as he looked for one person. He had only one chance to fix everything, one chance to prevent a tragedy.…
Suddenly, the child in his arms woke up, and Cheongmyeong, with a guilty expression on his face, began to rock him in his arms, calming him down,
"Dongryong-ah, you're such a dormouse," he smiled faintly as he got out of the bundle and reached for it with his small hands. "Don't worry, in a year or two you'll forget everything. Isn't it good?"
In protest, the kid burst into tears, trying to pull Cheongmyeong's hair, who only exhaled wearily, unable to hold back a smile. These were the last few hours he could spend with sasuke, even if he was a baby. Pulling his raincoat deeper over his face, he stepped out of the alley, continuing to rock the child in his arms.
"Sasuk, do you want me to show you my favorite places? Oh, you're so active, hehe."
Night fell very quickly on stormy Xi'an.
An inn, a floor with only one occupied room, in which Cheongmyeong, who had recently received the title Plum Blossom Sword Saint, was sleeping sweetly. Empty jugs were lying by the bed, which the man with the bundle walked around, approaching the guest. He looked at this 'scamp' with displeasure, not wanting to hand over the last thing he had left to someone like him... even if it was himself, just younger and stupider.
Dongryong, who had been crying all day, slept in his arms. Cheongmyeong took one last look at him, laying him down next to the sleeping self from the past. But unable to resist, even though time was running out, he touched his forehead to the baby's forehead. He wanted to show Dongryong so much more, he wanted to tell himself what kind of disaster awaits them, he wanted to see his Jangmun-sahyung and Saje, who were only a few hours away, he would like to tell Tang Bo that the Tang family had achieved a lot before sinking into oblivion…
He wanted to say to Baekcheon: thank you for choosing Mount Hua in the North Sea, when he wanted to make a mistake a second time; thank you for supporting him to the end and trying to be his real Sasuk, which he never had; please take care of me from the past; please live this life for All those who couldn't…
"I'm sorry, Sasuk."
Cheongmyeong whispered with his lips as several hot drops rolled down his face.
He left a note for himself from the past, asking to take care of this child. If not him, then Cheongmun or Chongjin will definitely raise his Dongryong… Cheongmyeong hoped that he alone would be enough to change everything.
He left as quietly as he had come.
In the morning, the Noble Blade woke up because of a child crying. He was so surprised that some woman had thrown her child at him that he ignored the note, rushing as fast as he could to Mount Hua to be reprimanded by sahen for debauchery and child abuse…
"Baby, don't cry," when the child didn't calm down, Cheongmun showed the child Cheongmyeong sitting humbly on his lap, and he immediately stopped crying. "It is not for nothing that they say that children feel their fathers."
But, Sahyung, this is not my child, almost crying from injustice, Cheongmyeong howled to himself. No, he will definitely find that crazy mother who abandoned her child to an outsider drunk man!
***
It's been 20 years.
Passers-by turned to look at a handsome man who drew their gazes to himself. He was refined, and his white ribbon was developing at every step. However, perhaps he would have attracted less attention if he hadn't been carrying two men under his armpits? Saint Sword and Dark Saint were senselessly dangling in someone else's strong hands, too drunk to complain about the convenience of the pose. Dongryong would like to ask: why do I need such a mentor and his friend?
Taking a deep breath, Dongryong rented two rooms in the inn and scattered two lovebirds in them. If they even meet eyes when they wake up, they'll start rioting again.
After ordering lunch to the rooms, Dongryong went outside and looked at the clear sky with an empty expression on his face. No, why are the other students in the sect or on a mission now, and he has to look after two drunks?..
'Cheongmun-sasuk, please let Cheongjin-sasuk punish mentor this time. He's better at it.'
After sending an inner plea to his Sasuk, Dongryong went shopping, which his Sahyungs and Sajos, who remained in the sect, asked him to do. Taking out the list, the student was looking for the benches he needed when a hooded silhouette glided past him.
"Hmm?"
Dongryong turned around, surprised that someone was wearing a hooded robe in fairly hot weather. A traveler? A mercenary? When Dongryong looked after the departing man, he reflexively turned around, their eyes met for a moment.
'Eyes like a mentor's.'
Dongryong did not confuse this delicate pink shade with any other, resembling a plum in full bloom. He stared and did not notice how at some point his world swung to the side, and his peripheral vision faded. Nausea rose in his throat, and his body felt clumsy and wadded up as he tried to walk to a nearby wall to lean on. Suddenly, the lively Xi'an blurred and a completely different picture appeared in its place.
Deserted streets, stale smell, slurping underfoot and red.
It was a world completely colored red.
Dongryong tried to inhale and disperse qi through his body to recover, but everything seemed useless until he felt a grip on his shoulders. His vision cleared, and his ears stopped ringing. Cheongmyeong called him again,
"Dongryong, can you hear me?"
"Yes?.."
"Great."
They were standing in a dark alley, away from the crowd. Cheongmyeong turned Dongryong's still pale face towards him, covering his right eye with his hand and sighing,
"Aigo-o, your blood vessels burst again. No, why are you so carefree?"
"I'm sorry, Mentor…"
"Huh? What's wrong with Dongryong? Since when does this stubborn boar apologize to his mentor?"
He wanted to say a lot in response, but he didn't say anything. Dongryong didn't know how much time had passed, since his mentor was here now and not sleeping in an inn room. He obediently turned his face up, feeling a pleasant chill envelop his right eye. When Cheongmyeong finished, he grinned, and Dongryong would be lying to himself if he said he didn't know he was going to say another stupid thing,
"If Dongryong-ah is scared, he can spend the night in his mentor's room," seeing his disciple's displeased face, Cheongmyeong only grinned wider. "Oh, didn't Dongryong just, uh, five years ago, come running to me at night because some girl rejected him and he couldn't sleep because of shame?"
"I-it's not!.."
"Well, well, I understand, I understand," Cheongmyeong fluffed the hair on Dongryong's head, who managed not only to reach his height, but even slightly exceed it. "Do you see? You have such a good mentor! And Jin-ah said I was callous, tsk-tsk."
'You're proving it now, you bastard.'
Dongryong sulked as he walked away from the alley. But he was stopped by Cheongmyeong, pointing at the eye,
"It's still red. Did you really decide to scare away pretty girls? ~"
Bandaging his eye with his forehead patch, Dongryong quickly began to move away from the alley to finish shopping. When he left, Cheongmyeong stared thoughtfully at the crowded street.
'This is a problem.'
If the note hadn't been plausible enough to prove that this child was abandoned by his future self, Cheongmyeong would have killed him fifteen years ago when he saw the seal used by the followers of a demonic cult on his right eye. No, he wouldn't blame the child for being hurt by the tricks of those bastards... but this seal was made by someone who was more powerful than Cheongmyeong, the strongest swordsman of Kangho.
Has 'he' studied the techniques of the demonic cult in the future?
Or it was someone else.
Cheongmyeong didn't know, but they would definitely have problems if someone found out that there was someone associated with a demonic cult on Mount Hua. The man came out of the alley in search of his student. But if he think about it that way…
Does he seem to have forgotten something?
When Tang Bo woke up in the room, he found only the bill and lunch. No trace of his hyung's presence