Recommended Listening: [Golden Dynasty – By Saban & Tian Bo]
101st Rebirth – 188 AD
Heiwu Senlin Forest – Southeast of Lushan Fortress
In the centuries before the start of the cycle of death and rebirth, the world was ravaged by demons that came from the dark lands beneath the surface of the realms.
They filtered into the mortal realm like swarms, devouring everything in their path. The rivers and lakes turned to ash, the forests and fields turned to graveyards and the skies turned to darkness.
People suffered at the hands of the demons; some say they were once mortal cultivators hailing from a single family who practised demonic abilities to corrupt and twist beasts, in turn corrupting themselves.
Others say they were unleashed on the mortal realm to remind the people of what would happen when their greed outweighed their morals and gratitude.
It was then that the renowned Sun Jian of the Wu commandery had risen up in supplication to the heavens, promising to right the wrongs of the world in exchange for protection from the demons.
Seeing his earnestness, the heavens granted him celestial power to drive away the demons and seal away the demon lord who led their battalions.
After many years of hard-fought effort, Sun Jian had driven the demons and their dark lord back into the depths from whence they came.
Much of the world had been lost, but days of peace and joy were restored once more. Since then, across the lifetimes that came afterwards, not a single demon had come to see the light of the mortal realm ever again.
But that had changed towards the end of the hundredth rebirth. The enemy had dabbled in darkness and summoned forth the creatures that had long since been sealed.
And now? They were haunting the one hundred and first lifetime too. Since his birth in this lifetime and era, Zhou Yu had been exposed to demons.
He'd spent years and his entire childhood researching the source of their return, determined to track down the demon that crushed Sun Ce right before his very eyes while he was powerless to do nothing.
Whether it was darkness or light, Zhou Yu dedicated this lifetime to studying those dark creatures, learning their strengths and weaknesses.
He'd been forced to dabble in the forbidden but that was a small price to pay. As long as he could exact his revenge and end the torturous cycle of death and rebirth, it didn't matter what means he used to achieve it.
Now, at age twenty-six, his skills and magic honed to perfection, Zhou Yu set out to find the source of the rift crisis in the Northeast of the Lushan Commandery.
There were reports of rifts leading to the demon realm randomly opening up in different parts of the land.
Zhou Yu had made a prominent name for himself as the renowned 'Demon Hunter' across the land; hence, he'd been summoned by different warlords to resolve the crisis.
Only this time, he was summoned by the Grand General of the Wu Commandery.
Sun Jian.
It had been several years since his early teens that Zhou Yu had last encountered the Grand General and his sons. He had hoped he would never need to cross paths with them in this lifetime, but it was inevitable.
Zhou Yu dreaded the journey, not because of the obstacles along the way but because he had pledged that he would remain far away from Sun Ce in the hopes that their ill fates would never cross.
Perhaps then, Sun Ce would be freed from the horrible cycle.
But Zhou Yu had more urgent matters to focus on at hand.
Hailing from the noble Lujiang County of Anhui Province, he commanded hundreds of troops under his banner. Loyal to him alone, his men followed where he willed without question.
They'd been tracking their way in divided groups to avoid unwanted attention. Some would reach Jian Ye before him and some after him.
Zhou Yu had chosen to ride alone. Why? Because of the demon that had been hunting him ever since he departed from Anhui Province.
Now, riding through Heiwu Senlin (Black Mist) Forest, Zhou Yu kept a keen eye over his shoulder. The forest was dark with thick black mist clouding the trees and paths.
At night, the locals claimed it was like riding through the abyss itself. But Zhou Yu had seen too much darkness in his lifetimes to fear the unknown.
The demon hunting him was known as Ye Qi Hu, the night-weeping fox. In his youth, Zhou Yu had once spared a demon-possessed child in order to try and extract the Ye Qi Hu spirit, and now? The demon knows his face and his deepest fears.
Like a coward, it haunts him from the shadows with its wailing, but it never appears before him.
Zhou Yu knew the night-weeping fox would continue to taunt him with its cries; hence, he gripped the reins of his horse and snapped them to speed up his pace.
His long, dark hair cascaded down his back like a black silky sheet and his crimson eyes, deep like blood, looked straight ahead, carefully avoiding the uprooted trees and shrubs in his path.
From the corner of his eye, Zhou Yu could see the demon beast running alongside him on another path through the trees on his left.
It was cloaked in white fur, covered by white light, but black tears streamed down its face.
"Cowardly bastard…" Zhou Yu muttered under his breath, deciding to change his course.
Now that he was heading towards Jian Ye, where the Sun family resided, there was no choice but to finally kill off the night-weeping fox.
There was no chance that he would risk leading the creature right into the home of Sun Ce. All threats had to be accounted for before he reached his destination.
Reaching into his robe, Zhou Yu retrieved a small oval-shaped vessel that was slightly elongated at the base. Carved from obsidian, it had a midnight glaze appearance with silvery lunar dust speckled faintly on it.
It was a magically imbued instrument known as Wuyue Lingxun.
Zhou Yu raised the moon-carved xun instrument to his lips, blowing notes of low and high-pitched tones. Without halting his course, he closed his eyes and allowed the haunting notes to ripple through the air, summoning a white mist that cancelled out the black mist.
The melody was so eerie that it made his horse neigh in fear, but the animal was loyal to a fault and wouldn't dare stop unless his master commanded it.
The night breeze became colder, howling even. The night-weeping fox's wails grew louder, responding to the xun's melody.
The white mist wrapped around its body, slowing it down. Zhou Yu seized the opportunity to pull on his horse's reins, diverting its course to the side.
He reached the path of the night-weeping fox, gazing down at the helpless demon beast as it whimpered.
Zhou Yu steadied his horse, laying the xun back within his robes. He drew his sword from its sheath, the blade gleaming.
"Too long have you wandered without tasting the blade of Gōngjǐn…"