[ABO BL Anthology] Time Cross Academy

Alpha x Alpha Twisted Romance (5)

After cleaning the room and making it comfortable again, Ruo Han carried Shen Long over and tucked him in his bed. He pulled the covers up and stared at the handsome dragon god spirit who was dead asleep.

It was still in the afternoon and Ruo Han felt the gentle breeze filter in from their window. The lazy setting and peacefulness of it all made Ruo Han yawn. Kneeling down by Shen Long’s bedside, the cultivator slowly traced his finger across the handsome angular jaw. His hair was still as bright and golden as Ruo Han remembered it to be. The only thing that changed from the last time Ruo Han saw Shen Long was the scar across his right eye.

It was many years ago when Ruo Han met Shen Long. At that time, Shen Long wasn’t the cruel alpha that everyone in the Academy knew. In fact, he was the reason why Ruo Han left his cultivation sect to attend the Academy for five years. He might be a sect leader now after three hundred years as he dipped into the demigod realm with his cultivation efforts. However, if it wasn’t for Shen Long back then, Ruo Han would never have made it this far.

“What happened to you in the last three hundred years?” he asked and traced a finger over the scar gently.

Ever since the day Shen Long found him on top of a cliff ready to jump off it, Ruo Han already made up his mind to devote his entire existence to this godly figure. Shen Long was on a pilgrimage back then when they met on his travels. 

Ruo Han smiled. He still remembered how the dragon god appeared the first time he called out to him just five footsteps away from death. Ruo Han remembered training so hard to the point of damaging all his meridians beyond repair. No doctor or sage could help him and his prayers were unanswered. Ruo Han lived for revenge and once he found and killed his parents’ murderers with the price of never being able to cultivate again, he decided that the best way to end the karma was to kill himself.

“Young one, why are you so hasty? If you have no reasons left to live then all you need to do is find one,” Shen Long told him.

Back then, the dragon god was a radiant person even in his human vessel. He was every inch as intimidating and awe-inspiring as he was back then. However, the thing that stole Ruo Han’s cold and dead heart was the intense warmth when he smiled. Shen Long was the shining beacon of hope when he laughed at Ruo Han’s reply.

“In that case, consider yourself dead and reborn. How about I give you a new name and a new purpose to live? You’re still young, there is no need to hurry to King Yama. Start a cultivation clan in the name of the dragon god, I shall impart my spirit blessing and arts to you. The weakness of your past shall be the strength of your future. I give you the name Ruo Han with my blessings. From today onwards you will become my chosen prophet. Don’t let me down.”

The cultivator reminisced the times he spent in that year living and learning the dragon arts from Shen Long as he slowly healed under Shen Long’s care. Shen Long was a great teacher and Ruo Han couldn’t help but slowly fall for him with how much time they spent with each other. The dragon god was wise, intelligent, good looking and also kind. However, something that he told Ruo Han to do made the cultivator keep his forbidden feelings a secret.

“I need a sacrifice every ten years, a virgin. When you set your sect up using my name, don’t forget to choose good sacrifices. Gods take on brides every ten years in return for blessing the earth.”

Ruo Han remembered the feeling of a lump in his throat when he heard that. He faked a smile and asked for the kind of virgins Shen Long liked even if it killed him a little on the inside. Shen Long’s answer made him sadder.

“Male virgins. The prettier they are, the better. I like someone mild-tempered but not weak. Preferably someone with enough intelligence for me to hold a conversation with or play a game of chess.”

Even against his better judgement and hopeless pinning, Ruo Han worked hard at becoming the kind of bride that Shen Long was looking for even if he was never going to be able to do it. Every ten years, Shen Long would adopt a few orphans and train them to become bridal candidates for Shen Long on their sixteen to eighteenth birthdays. The boys were always pretty, mild-tempered and intelligent just the way Shen Long liked them.

Then, Ruo Han received a message one day from Shen Long in his dream that he needn’t send any more sacrifices. That was about eighty years ago. There was no explanation and Ruo Han became unable to contact Shen Long ever since until he heard about the travelling school. Quickly, Ruo Han left the sect matters to his other disciples and registered to attend the academy when he learned that Shen Long would be there.

When he attended the academy, Ruo Han instantly spotted and recognised Shen Long. However, Shen Long didn’t recognise him and he appeared to be very different from the dragon god that Ruo Han knew. The scar across his right eye was one thing. The cruel smile was another. However, most shockingly, Shen Long had no recollection about his past with Ruo Han or knowledge about the sect that he told Ruo Han to create in his name. Needless to say, the cultivator was devastated even if he didn’t show it outwardly. Still, he tried to get close to Shen Long only to find out that his respected beacon of hope had become a fallen star. Shen Long would often indulge in the pleasures of the flesh and his cruelty became famous in no time when he used Ringo as a shield. Where had the kind dragon god who saved a devastated cultivation cripple from jumping off a cliff gone? 

Ruo Han watched as Shen Long slept. He had so many questions for Shen Long. Why did he change so drastically? Why had he forgotten about them? And most importantly, why did Shen Long’s energy feel so different?

Now that the adrenaline was over, Ruo Han was starting to feel the side effects of absorbing too much of Shen Long’s unusual energy when he was giving some of his own earlier.

It was late afternoon but Ruo Han decided that a nap wouldn’t hurt. He felt sluggish and collapsed onto his bed with his body turned towards Shen Long. As his eyelids grew heavier, the last thing in Ruo Han’s vision was the sight of Shen Long resting peacefully across from him in the same room.

At long last, they were reunited.