Elder Cultivator

Anton, a content great-grandfather enjoying his twilight years despite advanced age and failing health, faces a brutal disruption. Cultivator bandits descend upon his region, operating with impunity as the local Order of Ninety-Nine Stars proves incapable of apprehending them. During a harsh winter, Anton is hunting when the bandits attack his village, slaughtering or enslaving his family and everyone he knows. Overwhelmed by despair and lacking the physical prowess to defend himself—he can barely draw his bow, his eyesight is poor—Anton is left to ponder his powerlessness. He laments his missed opportunity; if only he had been a cultivator, perhaps he could have altered their fate. He feels it is far too late to begin such a path now, having been decades, if not his entire life, too late to gain the strength needed to prevent the tragedy.