The scent of damp earth and morning dew was familiar blanket for Li Xian. The cool mountain air pricked his nose, cleansing his lungs. Every dawn, a thick mist enveloped Qianlong Valley, a hidden pocket of peace nestled between towering mountain peaks, which the ancestors called the "Sleeping Dragon." In this small, tranquil village, life moved slowly, in harmony with the cycles of the sun and moon.
At twelve years old, Li Xian's muscles were already accustomed to carrying a load. He stepped carefully along the muddy path, following in the footsteps of his father, Li Tao. On his back, a bamboo basket creaked softly. Li Tao, with his sturdy back and wrinkles at the corners of his eyes, was squatting near a bush. His rough hands skillfully checked the deer trap they had set the night before.
"Father, look," Li Xian said, pointing to the wet ground near the roots of an old pine tree. "These footprints… they're strange."
Li Tao stood up straight and furrowed his brow. He observed the deep footprints in the mud. They were clearly not the tracks of a deer or a wild boar. The prints were large, even bigger than an adult's foot, and there was a strange scratch on the heel, as if the wearer was wearing heavy iron boots.
"This smell..." Li Tao sniffed the air carefully. What was even more disturbing was the aroma—a strange metallic scent, like rusted iron baked in the sun. The smell was foreign amidst the natural scents of the forest.
"Father, who left these tracks?" Li Xian asked innocently, his clear eyes looking at his father with curiosity.
Li Tao didn't answer immediately. His gaze swept around the forest, as if searching for something. "Be careful, Xian," he finally whispered, his voice lower than usual. "Don't touch anything. We need to go home, now."
"But Father, shouldn't we check the other traps—"
"No!" Li Tao cut him off firmly, something he rarely did. He grabbed his son's arm gently but firmly. "Home, now."
As they walked back in a hurry, Li Xian couldn't shake the strange feeling in his chest. His father, who was usually calm and patient, seemed agitated. His steps were even faster than usual.
In their simple hut, Su Mei, his mother, hummed softly as she stirred porridge over the stove. Her gentle singing was a soothing melody, an inseparable part of their morning routine.
"Mother, why did Father look so worried just now?" Li Xian asked, sitting on a small wooden stool near the stove.
Su Mei smiled gently, stroking her son's hair. "Your father is always worried about us, Xian. It means he loves us."
The warm aroma of rice porridge mixed with the scent of sesame oil from the freshly fried you tiao, making Li Xian's stomach rumble. Outside, a neighbor's hoe clanged in the rice paddies, a calming rhythm of daily hard work.
Suddenly, the singing of the lěi niǎo—the thunderbirds—who usually chirped cheerfully in the trees, stopped. A deathly silence.
Su Mei also stopped humming, her hand freezing over the pot. "Strange..." she murmured, her eyes staring out the window.
"Mother, why are the birds quiet?" Li Xian asked with a worried tone.
The smile on Su Mei's face faded. The silence felt heavy, hanging in the air like a storm cloud. First, it was just the birds, then the sound of the hoes in the distance stopped one by one. The peaceful tranquility now felt like a suffocating tension.
Outside the window, the morning mist, which was originally pure white, slowly changed color. There was an eerie yellowish tinge, like smoke from a raging fire.
"Oh no, a bad omen... a bad omen!" Grandma Chen, the next-door neighbor, suddenly appeared at the doorstep of their hut. Her wrinkled face was ashen. Her hands trembled as she held her cane. "It's the Yellow Mist of Sorrow!"
"Grandma Chen, what's wrong?" Su Mei rushed to the door, her hand holding the old woman's arm. "Sit down first, Grandma. You're out of breath."
"No time to sit!" Grandma Chen shook her head vigorously, her eyes wide with fear. "The ancestors said, when this mist descends, destruction will come... I saw it in my childhood! And it was the last day of our village!"
"Grandma, don't say such things," Su Mei tried to soothe her, though her own voice was starting to tremble. "Maybe it's just a change in the weather..."
"No, Mei! You're still young, you don't know!" Grandma Chen gripped Su Mei's arm tightly. "This yellow mist... I saw it 60 years ago. That's when Tianshan village was wiped out in one night. No one survived!"
Li Xian felt his chest tighten hearing the conversation. "Grandma, what does 'wiped out' mean?"
Grandma Chen looked at the boy with teary eyes. "Boy, there are evil people coming... they know no mercy. They..."
The door was kicked open. Li Tao entered, out of breath, his face pale.
"Tao! Thank goodness you're home," Su Mei immediately went to her husband. "Grandma Chen said there's a yellow mist—"
"I know." Li Tao cut her off, his voice trembling. "I saw them from the hill. Black shadows... so many of them."
"Who are they, Father?" Li Xian asked, but his father had already run to an old wooden cabinet in the corner of the room.
"Mei, lock all the doors and windows. Don't go out until I say it's safe." Li Tao opened the cabinet with trembling hands, taking out a long black wooden chest.
"Tao, you're scaring me," Su Mei said in an almost whisper. "What is really happening?"
Li Tao looked at his wife with eyes full of regret. "I'm sorry, Mei. I never told you about my past. I thought... I thought they would never find me here."
"Past? Tao, what do you mean?"
"Mei, bring me the heirloom sword from the altar room. Hurry!" Li Tao's usually calm voice now sounded shaky, like a violin string pulled too tight.
As Su Mei ran to the back room, Li Tao knelt in front of his son. "Xian, listen to me carefully."
"Father, I'm scared," Li Xian whispered, his eyes welling up with tears.
"I'm scared too, son." Li Tao stroked his son's cheek gently. "But I will protect you both. No matter what happens, if I tell you to run, you have to run. Understand?"
"I don't want to leave you and Mother!"
"Xian..." Li Tao took a deep breath. "Sometimes we have to do things we don't want to do to protect the ones we love."
From the steep cliff above the village, black shadows slid down. They moved with a deadly silence, like smoke descending from the sky. There were twenty of them, all wearing pitch-black robes that blended with the shadows and iron masks that covered their entire faces.
In the village, Chief Wang ran towards the village hall, shouting, "Everyone gather! There are attackers! Bring any weapon you have!"
But it was too late.
There were no war cries. There were no warnings. Just systematic and merciless cruelty.
One of the attackers, a burly man with a chain axe in his hand, darted towards Uncle Zhao, who was running with his granddaughter. With a brutal swing of the axe, he decapitated the man. Blood spurted like a fountain.
"UNCLE ZHAO!" Li Xian screamed from behind the window, but Su Mei immediately pulled him away.
"Don't look, Xian! Don't look!" Su Mei hugged her son tightly, but she couldn't stop herself from looking.
Another, a more slender man, jumped onto a hut's roof and scattered a gray powder everywhere. Aunt Liu, who was hanging clothes, inhaled the powder and immediately choked, coughing violently, then vomiting blood.
"Poison..." Li Tao muttered, his face pale. "They're using Duan Hun poison - the soul-severing poison."
The leader of the attackers, whose mask was adorned with a twisted dragon carving, walked leisurely towards the village hall. In his hand, he held a serrated sword that looked like a saw blade.
Chief Wang, with admirable bravery, tried to attack him with a rusty spear. "You will not destroy my village!" he shouted.
But the leader, Shangguan Hei, avoided the attack with a graceful movement, then swung his sword. The serrated blade cut the Chief's body into two halves, from shoulder to hip.
"WANG LAOSHI!" several villagers screamed, but they could only stand frozen, watching their leader die in a horrific way.
Screams filled the air—screams of fear, screams of pain, and screams of despair. The huts began to burn, flames licking the thatched roofs. Black smoke billowed into the sky, mixing with the yellow mist.
"They're close," Li Tao whispered as he peeked through a crack in the window. "Mei, Xian, get ready."
"Tao, who are they really?" Su Mei asked in a trembling voice, holding the heirloom sword with shaky hands.
"They... they are the Hei Ye Ting. The Dark Night Pavilion." Li Tao took a long breath. "I... I was once one of them."
"What?" Su Mei was shocked, almost dropping the sword.
"Was Father evil?" Li Xian asked with wide eyes.
Li Tao knelt in front of his family. "I'm sorry. I was once part of an assassin organization. But when I met your mother, I realized there was a more beautiful life than killing."
"Why did they come now?" Su Mei asked.
"Because I ran away with their secrets. And now... they've come to eliminate the witnesses."
The sound of heavy footsteps was heard outside. The door of their hut was knocked on hard.
"Li Tao! We know you're inside!" a heavy voice shouted from outside. "Come out and face the consequences of your betrayal!"
Li Tao stood tall, kissed his wife's forehead, then stroked his son's hair. "I love you both."
"Father..." Li Xian cried.
"Take care of your mother, Xian. Be a good man."
Li Tao opened the door. In front of him stood three masked attackers.
"Shangguan Hei still remembers you, traitor," one of them said mockingly.
"I have no business with the Pavilion anymore. Let my family go."
"No one is leaving here alive."
The fight began. Li Tao with his heirloom sword fought against three attackers at once. Although he hadn't trained for a long time, his reflexes and past techniques were still stored in his body.
He parried the first attack, twisted the second attacker's wrist until it broke, then stabbed the third in the chest. But when he was distracted, a spear from the side pierced his ribs.
"FATHER!" Li Xian screamed.
"RUN! To the Ancestor's Cave! Hurry!" Li Tao yelled, holding off two other spears that pierced his body. Thick red blood flowed from his mouth.
Su Mei had no time to grieve. She pulled Li Xian to the back door. "Go, son! Run to the cave! NEVER LOOK BACK!"
As Li Xian was about to get out, he heard the sound of an arrow flying. He turned and saw his mother collapse, an arrow stuck in her back.
"MOTHER!" Li Xian wanted to run back, but Su Mei, with her remaining strength, screamed, "RUN! LIVE TO AVENGE US!"
With a shattered heart, Li Xian ran away from his burning home, with the screams of his parents still ringing in
his ears.
[The story continues with Li Xian escaping to the cave, finding the dying Lao Wen, and the dark transformation that changes his life forever...]