Chapter Text
The scent of blood wafts in the air, stifling silence unbefitting that of a battlefield where one's life may turn into ashes in one move filled the atmosphere, coating it in a heavy veil.
Amidst the red earth, the wind roared as if threatening to spill the earth with raindrops; as if intending to cleanse the filth underneath.
"Bo! Bo-ya!"
The sky was grey; telltale of a rainstorm, but all he could see was the plum coloured eyes that had become his favourite for the past years, or has it been for decades? His eyes started to blur. He didn't have enough time, he knew it like the back of his hand, being a doctor and all.
He wanted to say something.
Anything, as long as he can make those beautiful plum irises stop radiating despair and sadness so deep that he wanted nothing more but to pull the figure that fussed upon his injured body to his embrace, to tell him that everything will be alright.
But alas, things didn't always go the way we wanted it to be. It's cruel, but it's reality.
"Hyung...nim."
"Shut up! You, you bastard! You did this knowing the result didn't you? Why did you do it?"
The last words were uttered in such a small, wavering voice, does not befit the usual roguishness and the might of Plum Blossom Sword Saint. At that point, he was no Saint, he was no martial artist that power was right under the heavens.
Now, he's just a man who's terrified of losing the love of his life.
And Tang Bo hated himself more for being the reason for his lover's sadness.
'Please forgive this ugly younger brother, he couldn't even prevent you from getting hurt anymore after this, nor could he accompany you until the end.'
Is what he wanted to say.
'I love you, please don't cry.'
Is another.
But all he could say as he felt his life flickering like candles atop a snowy mountain was a completely different thing.
"Hyung, Taoist Hyung-nim.. Tang Family.. Please take care of the Tang Family..."
Cheongmyeong's face distorted, his trembling eyes now had a newly found flame filled with determination flickering beneath them, one that Tang Bo found he loved more than anything else.
"Shut up! You won't die, I won't let you. You're not dying, you hear me?! Bastard."
With each profanities and curses thrown at him, he could feel a strange but familiar inner energy begin to seep into his tattered body, he chuckled, that's his hyung-nim, never knowing when to give up, another trait that he admired from the older man.
"It's... no use..."
"Shut up, don't pass your responsibilities to others you damn leech, live! Live and do it yourself!"
Now aside from the refreshing inner energy that continuously poured into his body, he could feel another cold sensation on his face. When he looked up, his heart clenched at the sight of his Hyung-nim, his tougher than steel older brother, crying miserably with tears dripping down his face.
'Don't cry... please...'
With all the energy left in his body, he channelled all into raising his hand and attempting to wipe the flowing tears from his lover's face, caressing it with utmost adoration.
'Sorry.'
And if the last thing he sees before his sight filled with darkness is the disbelieving face of Cheongmyeong, he was content, as long as it was the sight of his favourite eyes looking at him, he'll be happy.
'I'm sorry, Hyung-nim, for leaving you alone in this hell. Please forgive this Tang Bo, for not fulfilling his promise to stay with you until the end.'
With that, he welcomed the nothingness that slowly took him into its embrace.
When he opened his eyes, he thought that he would be in those so-called afterlife that people often talk about in passing. But when the first thing his blurry sight could make out was the ceiling of a room, decorated with the signature green of the Tang Family, he wondered if he'd been dreaming, a last memory before he actually died.
"For a dream, it's unusually realistic.."
As he was about to admire the intricate design of the wooden sculpture that adorned the ceiling, a startled voice was heard.
"G-Grandpa!"
He frowned, the voice was familiar, but it slightly different from what he remembered, he couldn't put his fingers on it, so he did what he could, turn his head around and almost startled as his eyes met a middle aged man with trembling eyes, holding a basin filled with water and cloth on his hands.
"Who... are you?"
He swore that he knew that face somewhere, but as if his mind was stuffed with cotton, he grimaced at the headache that invaded his mind as he tried to get up.
At his small groan, pounding footsteps were heard, as the sound of a bowl hitting against tiles and the splashing water could be heard before a pair of hands slowly supported him.
"Grandpa! Please lay down, your condition..."
Tang Bo gritted his teeth, he was the Dark Saint, dammit, a little headache like this won't be the one that will bring him down.
"I'm fine, but answer my question, who are you?"
"It's Jopyeong, grandpa."
"Ah-Pyeong?"
"Yes!"
"That little child Tang Jo-Pyeong??"
Tang Bo's head was spinning, his mind began to replace the image of a small little child that clung to his robes all the time to the middle aged man in front of him. They're similar, if Ah-Pyeong was older he would be exactly like the man in front of him right now. But that's not what he should be thinking about.
His last memory was those of being on the battlefield and...
He sucks on his breath.
"Hyung-nim."
Dying in Cheongmyeong's arms.
"Yes?? Grandpa?"
Tang Jopyeong was shocked when Tang Bo abruptly sat up, with frantic eyes he looked around, clicking his tongue when finding that there's no way to tell the time without any windows in the vicinity.
"Ah-Pyeong."
"Yes, Grandpa?"
"What, no, When is it?"
"Yes?"
Tang Bo shook his head, his fingers clenched on his sleeping garments tightly.
"What about the Demonic War?"
"Ah... that's..."
Seeing his reluctance, Tang Bo was filled with dread.
"What... happened to the Heavenly Demon? No, that's not what's important."
He remembered a face filled with unusual sadness and a trembling hand holding onto him as he told that person to take care of his family.
"Hyung-nim, where is Taoist Hyung-nim?"
Tang Bo could feel another headache coming.
"And how long have I been asleep for?”
Fifty years.
Fifty years had passed since the Great Demonic War.
Half a century went by after an elite team led by Mount Hua fought the Heavenly Demon in the Hundred Thousand Mountains.
And...
"What do you mean that the Plum Blossom Sword Saint is dead?"
"Y-yes.. After beheading the head of the Heavenly Demon, the greatest demon of all time and the harbinger of chaos, the Plum Blossom Sword Saint was put on eternal rest at the Hundred Thousand Mountains."
Tang Bo couldn't believe it.
His hyung-nim, that Taoist hyung-nim, died?
Is that even possible?
He was someone who was the last person he would think of dying.
And what's more unbelievable is...
"And the Central Plains, especially the Nine Sect and Five Great Families had forgotten Hyung-nim's deeds and left Mount Hua to ruin?"
"Yes... The Mount Hua sect was attacked by the remnants of the Demonic Cult, and with no one left to defend it, it finally fell into ruin."
"Ha..."
His head was heavy as if he had been hit by a heavy metal, his heart was cold as he tried to control his breathing. He couldn't lose his control over his emotions here, but... Isn't this too much?
His Hyung-nim is dead.
And his Sect was brought to ruin.
All of his achievements and deeds were buried by those who had forgotten what the Mount Hua Sect had sacrificed.
His Hyung-nim saved the world, and the world forgot him in return.
"Ha.. Haha"
What a terrible joke.
"Grandpa?"
"Hahahaha"
Tang Bo laughed, but instead of joy, tears dripped down his cheeks and onto his garments, turning it into a darker shade.
"Hyung-nim.. I-"
'I'm so sorry, Dosa Hyung-nim... Please forgive this Tang Bo for being so helpless even after you saved this life of mine.'
The fact that it was Cheongmyeong, who had never given up on Tang Bo and continuously injecting his inner energy as he ran like crazy to the nearest camp and handing him to the hands of the Tang Family was unbelievable.
His hyung-nim had unknowingly saved his life, but he ended up dying after fulfilling what the world had expected from him.
It was too much for this to be the reality.
'Dosa Hyung-nim...'
"I... What am I living for now?"
Is this a retribution from Heavens for leaving you alone to die?
'I...'
'Hyung-nim, I don't know what to do anymore...'
From that day on, the news that the Dark Saint, one of the major figures that played a hefty role in the Great Demonic War, had awakened was known only to a bunch of people in Sichuan. The Tang Family worked meticulously to suppress the news of the survival of the Dark Saint as per his request. He, unable to hate the Sichuan Tang Family for not helping Mount Hua when in need but at the same time despised it, chose to exile himself in the deepest part of the Bamboo Forest in the Tang Family.
From now on, the existence of Dark Saint Tang Bo was only passed down to the direct descendants of the Tang Family, and rumours of a giant snake residing inside the Tang family were heard, some said it was a snake that fails to become an imoogi and ascended. But some say it was a snake that was hiding itself because of grief, and many rumours alike echoed throughout the streets until it dispersed into mere hushing and myth.
Like that, another fifty years had passed.
And when winter passed, spring bloomed again.