Bai Yao is young, in his early twenties and a strong cultivator for his age. However, the other youths and even the older men look down on him for being a water cultivator, viewing him as dead weight and leaving him out of the parties that go out every night to find and kill roaming demons. For his part, Bai was relieved to be left behind as it gave him more time for his books and to tend to his cultivation.

He did not understand why the village elders refused to reach out to the city guards for aid against the constant demon attacks on their little village. After all, the village lay less than a kilometer outside the city walls, and they were all sworn to the city lord. Bai knew the lord would protect his vassals.

Yet even the elders claimed they saw the value in pitting the men against the demons, strengthening the fighters. But Bai also knew the familiar sight of funeral pyres as, in dribs and drabs, the village sent their fighters to their final rest. This slow chipping away at the strength of the village left them all less secure.

Should a demon, or lord forbid, demons get through to the village their defense would be in the hands of the older men, many of whom bore the scars of their own battles against the demons, and the women - and even him, the weakest.

In truth, he agreed with their assessment. None of the abilities granted by his path would help stop a demon. He might be able to dodge their powerful attacks, and he could heal any minor wounds he took, but the path did not provide him any attacks until Body of Fierce Rains, the next step in the path. Worse, he was unable to empower any of the mana cannons which needed fire or wind mana. Nor could he erect earthen barriers or pummel the demons with rocks. The best he could offer was a bit of early warning if he was actively trying to sense for demons.

Which he was not as he was deep in meditation tending to his cultivation. Bai felt the tug on his awareness as the faint feeling of danger took ahold and frayed his intent focus on cultivating his path.

Demons! There were demons at the wall. It was too late to sound a warning. The older men and even some women were even now at the wall. He could sense their many auras. One of those he sensed flickered and then was extinguished. He felt panic rise in his chest and he rose from his meditative pose, his mind an unruly storm.

There were so many. The village would be overrun without the younger men. The clever demons must have snuck in behind the hunting parties to unleash this attack on the village. If he could somehow get word to the warriors they would be able to attack the demons from behind. With the demons focused on the village it would be a massacre. But he had no idea if he could slip away from the village, let alone if he could alert the hunting parties in time to avoid the village’s annihilation.

He only knew he had to try. There was little he could do to aid in the defense, especially with the sheer mass of demonic flesh pressing against the defenders.

With that thought firm in his mind and determination in his heart he slunk away from the village walls moving determinedly towards the rear of the village and a serene, little used pathway which led in serpentine fashion to the woods in which he would find one or more of the hunting parties. Bai knew there was no certainty in his chosen path and it was as likely he would fail to bring help in time, or even that he would stumble into a mess of demons himself.

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He pushed cautiously along the path darkened as it was by overgrown bushes and young trees, listening intently for anything his outstretched senses might fall to discover. His foot caught in an exposed root causing him to stumble forward only to catch himself against the trunk of another tree. He paused and forced himself to absolute stillness as he extended his senses while also listening, wary of any threat that might have been alerted by his clumsy stumble.

The way seemed to be clear and Bai decided to throw caution to the wind and move with greater haste lest he be tardy in his efforts to secure relief for the harried defenders.

A whisper of cowardice slithered through his soul, reassuring him that at least his own escape from certain death had been secured. He pushed back at the treacherous thought and recommitted himself to finding as many of the village's young defenders as possible. He quickened his pace and soon found himself pushing hard against thin branches and thick bushes alike as he pressed against and through the dense vegetation of the little used path. Having pulled his sense of his environment close to his chest as he sprinted through the dense woodlands he failed to detect the lone demon until he was almost upon it and by then the demon was aware of him and all that was left was to try to save himself.

Snarling, the blackened and twisted monstrosity launched itself at him with naked aggression and a simple-minded lust for his mana-rich flesh and blood. With no time for thought Bai brought up a barrier of water that caught the demon well short and gave him a sliver of time to consider his next move. A sliver was less than he needed, however, and the demon skirted the edges of his shield and scored a ragged slash to his upper leg bringing a gasp from his throat.

He scuttled away from the creature not quite overcome with the terror that wrenched at his chest, his shield of water shifted with a thought to block its progress. The demon yowled, hissed and scratched at the barrier which he'd widened even at the expense of its density. Scrambling back until he was stopped by a solid feeling tree, Bai breathed a sigh of relief as he realized the demon was alone.

He surrounded the malicious thing with water and then pulled the water down on the demon's head, letting the water infiltrate the creature's nasal passages while trailing downwards until the water filled its lungs, suffocating it in moments that must have been agony.

Bai could not bring himself to care and he resumed his panicked sprint the moment the creature expired. The path he took widened into a more traveled one that had been trodden upon by generations of young warriors eager for their first taste of battle and the more wary and weary tread of more seasoned warriors venturing out again to secure the safety of the village.

Centering himself, Bai thrust his senses out as far as he dared trying to locate the others and finding nothing. Panic again threatened to overwhelm him as he knew that he should have felt at least one of the groups, but coming up with nothing. Still he pressed on, near oblivious to his surroundings as he hurtled along the path while pressing out with his senses searching for any sign of the villagers and finding no one.

He stumbled to a halt.

How long had he run? He could not say. Yet he knew with a bone deep surety that he should have caught some sense of one of the hunting parties. Despite the single demon he had killed he knew he would never be known for his prowess at killing monsters. At the same time he also knew that there was no other in his village more skilled in sensing life, whether human, demon or other.

Bai not only failed to sense the young warriors, but he realized now that he could not sense any life other than the demons. He could well understand why there was a lack of animal life as the demons would have chased away the ordinary creatures of the woodlands. This failed to explain why he did not sense any human life, not even behind him in the village.

Unless, he thought, and then he refused to think any further.

A traitorous thought wriggled into his mind and he realized they must be dead. All of them, even the villagers, must be dead. Leaving him utterly alone.