The forests outside of Bai Lian village were once very peaceful and quiet, home to a small but tight knit community of around 500 people. It consisted of farmers, craftsmen, and merchants as well as fishermen and noblemen alike. Life seemed to pass on by quietly, cut off from the big time politics of the cultivation world. That is, until a few months ago that is. People began to disappear late at night without a trace, only to come back a few days later as one of the living undead. At first it had been the drunkards and the homeless that had gone missing, then came the prostitutes, the elderly and even at some point, some rogue cultivators.

At wit's end, the mayor finally sent out pleas to anyone who would be willing to help them out. He didn't care which sect they came from, nor did he care whether or not they were rogue or not. He just didn't want any more innocent people to die under his watch. And that's how they wound up with not only two of the most well respected cultivators in all of China here in his village, but also a handful of senior and junior disciples from Gusu sect. Even in a village as small and as remote as this one, everyone has heard the tales of the one and only Lan Wangji AKA Hanguang-jun and his equally respected husband Wei Wuxian AKA the Yiling Patriarch and their take down of the corrupt former chief cultivator Jin Guangyao 3 years ago. And once all the terrible things he did in secret came to light after his death, it was all anyone could talk about for months.

Of course, Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian never let the attention and the fame get to their heads. Even when offered the now vacant seat of chief cultivator, Lan Wangji turned it down in favour of staying at the Cloud Recesses and teaching newer generations of cultivators with his beloved husband by his side. They were never interested in politics, they just wanted to go out and help out those in need because it was the right thing to do. And today was one just one of those rare days where they could both take the juniors and seniors out together on a night hunt.

The moon shone brightly above them as they walked through the forest, twigs and dead fauna crunching beneath them as a strong autumn breeze sent a shower of colourful and vibrant maple leaves raining down on them. The sound of nocturnal animals scurrying above them and making mating calls only seemed to add to the spooky atmosphere

"Getting anything on the evil detecting compasses yet?" asked Sizhui as he picked leaves off his head and clothes.

Behind him, Jingyi looked around nervously, a small paper talisman on fire in one hand and a golden compass in the other. Even three years later, Lan Jingyi was still not very good with the concept of ghosts and the supernatural. But he's working on it, even if it's taking him a while to get there.

"I don't see anything yet" he said as he brushed aside some low hanging branches from his sight.

"This place gives me the creeps! I'm getting goose bumps just by standing here!"

According to Wei Wuxian (or rather, Senior Wei for short), he deduced that the fierce corpses that have been seen around here were different than the usual fierce corpses they've come across before. Usually, fierce corpses were usually mostly intact despite being in varying degrees of decomposition. These ones however had chunks of flesh and bones missing from them. This meant that these corpses were being reanimated by something that while not as intelligent as a human, was just as dangerous.

Even if they were to fight off just a few of them, there would always be more to take their place. So, their best bet of finding the culprit was to go searching for them in the forest and nip it in the bud. Senior Wei took one group of disciples with him in one direction while Hanguang-jun took the remainder of them with him in the other direction. Sizhui and Jingyi of course where with Lan Wangji tonight while Jin Ling and Ouyang Zizhen went with Wei Wuxian. They'd been walking for hours now and yet, not once have they found anything promising.

"Senior Wei did say that these corpses were being controlled by something that wasn't human. But what that something is, he didn't say for sure. What do you think is controlling th—"

"Shh! The evil detecting compass is going off!" hissed Shizhui

True to his word, the needle in the center of the compass started going haywire, spinning erratically in circles. Lan Wangji immediately reached to his side and drew his sword out.

"Get ready to fight." he told the rest of the disciples.

No sooner had he said that, a loud blood curdling scream belonging to a child ripped through the still air followed by the unmistakable roars and moans of the living dead.

"It's coming from over here! Hurry!" yelled one of the disciples.

It wasn't that hard to find the group of fierce corpses, they just had to follow the sounds of low guttural groans and the sound of thundering footsteps along the ground. It wasn't anything new to them as they've heard the sounds of the living undead many times before but, the sounds of someone in distress, let alone a small child were always something that would send anyone into overdrive.

(Please! Anyone! Help me!) Someone wailed in the distance.

Even if it was in another language that no one seemed to recognize, the urgency and fear in that voice was still something universally known, language barriers be damned. They came across a whole hoard of fierce corpses up ahead; the overpowering smell of rotting flesh and decay caused some of the junior disciples to dry heave and vomit into some nearby bushes. An elderly corpse was holding up what looked like a child no older than 5 or 6 years old upside down by the ankle. The child (a boy perhaps? Or maybe a girl?) had a steady stream of blood, tears and snot gushing down their face from a nosebleed they must have gotten from trying to escape while trying to hold down what looked like a thin, tattered and filthy paper robe with both hands in order not to expose themself to the world.

Sizhui was the first to strike, knocking down two of the corpses with a single strike of his sword. Then he plunged his blade through the chest of that elderly man from behind, causing him to fling that child into a tree and grab the blade protruding through his chest while angrily snarling like a rabid animal. Jingyi came up from the front and proceeded to decapitate the corpse with his own blade. The chaos that ensued was nothing short of spectacular as the sounds of metal slicing through rotting flesh and talismans burning corpses to a crisp filled the night air along with the pained cries of the undead.

Wei Wuxian, Jin Ling and Ouyang Zizhen came dashing in from the other direction with a group of the missing villagers behind them. They had been found in a cave nearby being unable to leave due to a barrier that had been blocking them from escaping. Wei Wuxian had made quick work of dispelling the barrier and making sure to check any of them for injuries or corpse poisoning. They too were attacked by corpses but, they made quick work of them before they could get overwhelmed by them. By the time they had met up with Lan Wangji's group again, they had already taken down most of the corpses in the area and were only beginning to perform last rites and prayers for the deceased so that they could rest in peace. Some of the villagers broke down crying at the sight of them doing this, having lost loved ones, friends, neighbours and beloved family members the dark forces. A night hunt was more than just a job or request to do; it was a way of making sure no one else got hurt like this by forces beyond their control.

"Are these all the missing people from the village?" asked Lan Wangji

"Yes, I'm positive." replied Wei Wuxian "I made sure to do a head count of everyone present."

"I saw a kid here earlier in a tattered robe being attacked by a fierce corpse. Might that be another missing villager?" Asked Sizhui

"I was going to make sure that they were alright but we got caught up in fighting them off. They must have run off in the midst of all the chaos."

The villagers looked at each other in alarm as they made sure to check among them who hadn't been turned into a fierce corpse and who was still alive. Just then, an all too familiar bloodcurdling scream echoed through the forest, only this time it was accompanied by snarling and the sound of trees being knocked over. Wei Wuxian pulled a talisman out from his sleeve and summoned a portal leading back to the village with an incantation muttered under his breath.

"Everybody! Get into the portal right now!" he shouted as he ushered screaming and panicked people through it.

Once everyone was accounted for, it was now a race against time to find that missing child and make sure that they didn't become one of the living undead. They took out their swords, hopped on and took to the skies. It hadn't been too hard to track down the source of the screams and the roaring. From up above the tree line, they saw what looked like a giant, nine tailed white fox demon with blood soaked fur chasing their culprit down a steep grassy hill. How they managed to run so fast without getting eaten in bare feet was anyone's guess. They then watched in horror as this child lost their balance, half rolled and half bounced off every bump and rock along the way, fell off the edge of a cliff and plummeted straight into a ravine. They didn't even hesitate to make their next move as they dove straight into the abyss afterwards.

They found the demon fox greedily licking its chops and hungrily growling as it advanced on this poor injured and terrified child down below. Jin Ling was the first to strike, firing two enchanted arrows into it's haunches. Next, Jingyi and Sizhui teamed up to slice several deep cuts into its sides and back. Finally, Zizhen released a barrage of talismans to try and slow it down in its steps. The beast howled and shrieked in pain from the onslaught of attacks, trying to bat the boys away from it. Meanwhile, Lan Wangji landed behind the child.

Just by looking at their back, he could see how much hell they had gone through up until now. There was a ring of ugly purple bruises forming on one of their ankles, though it looked like it was already quite red and swollen. Through the narrow slit in the back of their rather filthy and tattered robe, he could see a myriad of nasty looking cuts and scrapes scattered across their bare back, staining it red and dark brown with fresh and caked on dried blood. Their feet were covered in various cuts and scratches, a consequence of running in a forest with shoes on. Another ugly purple bruise was already beginning to blossom on this child's left shoulder and judging by how tightly they were gripping their shoulder, he deduced that they must have gotten injured somehow when they fell into the ravine. They had to end this quickly and get this kid to a doctor as soon as possible. He knelt down on one knee and held a hand out.

"Are you okay?" he asked "Can you stand up?"