Dao Eternal

The hour before dawn was the quietest.

The stars still lingered overhead, yet the eastern horizon had begun to pale with the first hint of morning. A cool mist blanketed Green Willow Village, softening every roof, every tree, and every footpath into hazy silhouettes. Even the wind seemed reluctant to disturb the stillness.

Inside the Ye family's home, the fire had burned down to glowing embers.

Ye Chen slept lightly, his years in the modern world having left him with the habit of waking at the slightest sound. Sometime before dawn, his eyes opened without warning.

At first, he heard nothing.

Then came the faintest vibration beneath the floor.

It was so subtle that most people would have mistaken it for imagination.

He held his breath.

A moment later, it came again.

A distant, rhythmic tremor.

His heart tightened.

Hooves.

Many of them.

He quietly climbed from his bed and stepped toward the window. The darkness outside was too thick to see beyond the nearest houses, but the trembling beneath the earth was becoming clearer.

His father stirred behind him.

"Chen'er?"

Ye Chen turned.

"I hear horses."

Ye Shan immediately sat upright.

For an instant, confusion crossed his face. Green Willow Village rarely saw even a single rider.

Then he heard them too.

His expression changed.

Without a word, he reached for the hunting spear leaning against the wall.

Lin Yue also awoke, noticing the fear in her husband's eyes before he spoke.

"Wake the neighbors," Ye Shan said in a low voice. "Quickly."

He had barely opened the door when a deafening scream shattered the silence of the valley.

"Bandits!"

The cry echoed through the village.

"They're here!"

The peaceful dawn exploded into chaos.

Dogs barked wildly.

Children began crying.

Doors burst open as frightened villagers stumbled into the streets, many still wrapped in blankets.

Before anyone could understand what was happening, a volley of flaming arrows arced across the dark sky.

For a single breathtaking moment, they resembled falling stars.

Then they struck.

Dry thatched roofs ignited instantly.

Fire raced across the village with terrifying speed, consuming homes that families had built with decades of labor.

The crackling of burning timber merged with the screams of terrified villagers.

Ye Chen stood frozen.

The peaceful village he had known since birth transformed into a sea of flames within moments.

His father seized his shoulder.

"Take your mother and run to the southern forest!"

"What about you?"

Ye Shan tightened his grip on the spear.

"If we all run, they'll catch us in the open."

His voice remained calm despite the chaos.

"Someone has to buy time."

Before Ye Chen could protest, his father pushed him toward Lin Yue.

"Go!"

The command carried a force Ye Chen had never heard before.

Outside, mounted bandits thundered through the streets.

Their horses trampled vegetable gardens and shattered wooden fences as though they did not exist.

Men wielding curved blades rode from house to house, setting anything untouched by fire ablaze.

Some villagers attempted to resist with hunting bows and farming tools.

Their courage lasted only moments.

Steel met wood.

Experience crushed desperation.

One by one, they fell.

Ye Chen watched Old Liu—the cheerful farmer who had praised him only days earlier—step in front of his grandchildren with nothing but a wooden pitchfork.

A sword flashed.

Old Liu collapsed without a sound.

His grandchildren screamed.

Ye Chen instinctively took a step forward.

His father blocked him.

"No!"

The single word struck harder than any blow.

"You cannot save everyone."

Tears welled in Ye Chen's eyes.

"I..."

Ye Shan looked directly at his son.

"Listen to me."

The noise of battle seemed to fade for an instant.

"If you survive today..."

His weathered face remained steady.

"...live a life you'll never regret."

Those words had barely left his lips when three mounted bandits turned into their street.

The scar-faced leader was not among them.

These men were ordinary raiders.

Yet to farmers, they were overwhelming.

One of the bandits pointed toward the Ye family.

"There!"

Ye Shan inhaled deeply.

Then, for the first time in Ye Chen's life, his father charged into battle.

Not as a farmer.

Not as a husband.

Not even as a father.

But as a man determined to protect his family with everything he had left.

The hunting spear thrust forward with surprising precision, striking the lead horse in the chest.

The animal screamed and collapsed, throwing its rider violently onto the ground.

The other two bandits immediately surrounded Ye Shan.

He fought with desperate courage, forcing them back long enough for Lin Yue to pull Ye Chen toward the rear of the house.

"Come!"

She refused to look back.

Because she knew...

If she did, she might never find the strength to keep moving.

Behind them, the sound of steel clashing against wood echoed through the burning village.

Ahead lay the narrow path leading toward the southern forest.

Between them stood fate itself.