Tang Sheng

First Meeting1 / 8

Third Senior Brother

"Junior Brother — let feeling arise, but let propriety restrain it. Know when enough is enough."

Single-named Sheng, the third Direct Disciple of the Tang Clan Sect Leader.

He came to the master already trained, and so is older than his two Senior Brothers. Once an ambitious scholar, he offended the powerful and fled far into the Jianghu.

His interests are storytelling, teaching talented youths, and laughing over the affairs of the world.

Biographies

The third Direct Disciple of the Tang Clan Sect Leader.
In his youth his blood ran hot, and he studied ten-odd years at a cold window,
vowing to pass the examinations and use his learning and insight to benefit the realm.
But he offended the powerful, failed the examinations, and brought a death sentence on himself.

By great fortune, he had once shared a rain shelter with Tang Zhongling, who had not yet taken up the post of Sect Leader.
In his hour of peril, Tang Zhongling saved him.
Having walked once to the Ghost Gate and lost all hope, he gave up the thought of serving the Imperial Court and joined the Tang Clan.

His interests are storytelling; in idle hours he laughs over Jianghu affairs,
asking nothing of life and death, and so he is open-hearted.

That year, in a rain-soaked pavilion, he met Tang Zhongling and, forgetting themselves, they talked freely of the affairs of the world, to their great delight.
One a poor scholar at a cold window, one a wanderer of the Jianghu.
One letters, one arms; though their views clashed,
they came to respect each other.

Though he joined the Tang Clan to learn martial arts, the two were more like friends across the years, often sharing tea and talking over the Spring and Autumn Annals.
The Eldest Senior Brother and the Second Senior Brother both grew up under his watchful eye,
and though his rank is high, he has never dared set himself up as their elder.

It is only a pity he began martial arts too late; to contend with the heroes of the world, he is late after all.
That said, by nature he has never loved to show off strength or fight fiercely.
As The Art of War says, the supreme art of war is to foil the enemy's plans.
The one who does not fight is the winner.

He once met the Emperor of the Great Song.

"I have plans to secure the state, strategies to settle the realm, methods to nourish life, and schemes to defeat the enemy — but only by clearing the ruler's side of the corrupt can any of them be done."
He passed the imperial examination, and when he came before the Emperor's face he dared to remonstrate so — and offended those in power who stood at the Emperor's side.
For this, he was thrown into prison on a fabricated charge, and his aged parents in his hometown and his wife all met unnatural deaths.

He wept in prison for many days, and as he was being escorted to the execution ground, Tang Zhongling and two young disciples seized him from the guards.
"Hear me, elders and neighbors all: this man suffered prison for the sake of the Commoners' peace,
　he is the Number One Under Heaven's Great Hero — burn it into your minds!"
So spoke Tang Zhongling, and those words are carved deep in his heart, unforgettable to this day.

Background

• His original surname was "Fang".
• He was originally a tribute scholar of the wuchen year, the first year of Jiading. At the palace examination he argued with a fellow tribute scholar, Zhao Rudang, recklessly discussing court affairs and criticizing the powerful minister; convicted for his words, he was stripped of his honors and sent to the Ministry of Justice for execution.
• brought two young disciples and seized the execution ground outside Qingbo Gate in Lin'an, trading the head of the traitor Wu Xi for his life.
• He took a master only past thirty. Counting from the day picked up, the execution-ground rescue was about 18 years ago, hence the estimate of 48.
• The execution-ground scene shows him white-haired simply because no younger portrait had been prepared.^[1]

Toil

• He is usually busy in the Scripture Hall, and cannot remember the last time he slept lying down; often he loses consciousness slumped over his desk halfway through his work.
• Bird Bear says Third Senior Brother toils harder than . After all, the Emei Sect owes no money, and its disciples do not stir up trouble. Too bitter^[2]
• Bird Bear says Third Senior Brother's overwork is at the level of risking his life, more exhausting than their own.^[3]
• He suffers from stomach qi rising upward; if he eats too much, he coughs in the middle of the night.

Notes

• Gentle and learned, but pedantic. He reads the classics of the sages and sets great store by propriety.
• He once believed hearsay that Tang Zhongling was a vicious madman who held the law in contempt and knew no restraint, and even spoke wildly to his face.
• At first glance his weapon is the Throwing Dart worn openly, but his true killing move is a Folding Fan hidden in his sleeve.
• His zodiac sign is Taurus in May.^[4]
• Zhao Huo said that if he were driven down the mountain, he would found a new demon cult called the Tang Sheng Cult.
• A Jianghu rumor on the DEMO route says Third Senior Brother kidnaps old women over sixty, locks them in a room, and cultivates the evil demonic arts inherited from the Old Demon Cult with them, ruining them into a second spring.
• When Zhao Huo, having never gone to study at another sect, loses his ambition and goes down the mountain, he gives Zhao Huo the life-savings he has carried for years to spend on the road, claiming it is a gift from several Senior Brothers.
• Every time goes down the mountain, he frets, dreading the day he brings back a Senior Sister-in-Law.
• Ye Yunshang calls him Grandpa.

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1. PTT C Chat — [Living Hero] Long Xiang and Strange Trivia P3 ↩︎

2. Bahamut — RE: [Information] Bird Bear Q&A Collection (Updated 11/2 Second Wave + Private Questions) ↩︎

3. Facebook — Original Bird Bear 2022/6/10 ↩︎

4. Facebook — Original Bird Bear 2023/3/24 ↩︎