Maiden Of The Splitting Moon

"The elders are no longer being controlled!"

They soon exited the hall and approached the Elders. 

"Fei Xian? What happened here? What do you mean poisoned?" one of the elders asked. 

This one was an old man with a gray beard reaching down to his knees. He wore a light green uniform and a short sword in his hand. 

"Elder Dai, I'm so glad that you are safe!"

"What do you mean? The tower has been broken into! The sect is a mess. What exactly happened here?"

"Indeed, tell us! What exactly happened here? Where is Elder Jia? He spoke of taking you all to a secret realm of some sort, no?"

The other elders were equally confused and concerned. Everywhere they looked, there were traces of battle, they needed answers.

"Wait, stop. We must fix this up and it seems that we have some visitors as well."

The Sect Elder Fu Men, looked towards the gates, where two figures entered the sect. Both of them were injured and slowly limping but their figures were familiar. 

As they came close and the sun began to rise, the Rou'er recognized one of them. 

" Ming Yue and... it's Elder Fei! He's alive!"

"Uncle! Ming Yue!" 

Fei Xian looked them as everyone rushed towards the two. Ming Yue weakly moved forward before handing Elder Fei off to them. The moment she returned Elder Fei back to them, her body loosened as Rou'er ran to catch her. 

As Elder Fei was brought away, the remaining elders approached her with their sword unsheathed. 

"Where- How did you find him?"

"Who are you? What business do you have with the Eternal Blade Sect?"

"Did you do this?"

The elders began to batter her with questions before Sect Leader Fu Men stepped forward with a smile. 

"Ming Yue, It seems that we owe you for saving Elder Fei. Please, let's head to the Medicinal Hall first."

After speaking to her, he turned to the other elders. 

"She is a guest and we shall treat her as such. We can ask her after she is properly cared for, until then, let's clean this place up."

Afterwards, Ming Yue buckled under her weight and fully relying on Rou'er, who supported her with her shoulder. She was too tired to speak and her body was extremely weak. 

That short battle with the hypnotised elders was a taxing one. She would not have survived if not for the fact that their minds were dulled. Furthermore, she had activated Pale Moon twice, which strained her body even more. Though the first time was the match the elder's strengths and the second time was out of pure anger. 

But what truly caused internal damage was condensing her remaining energy into one spurt of power. Such a burst had caused cracks in her meridians and acupoints, something that may not heal for at least a week. 

Fortunately for her, she had the Eternal Heart Ring. which was slightly glowing as it worked hard to mend her body. 

At the site of her battle, the black sludge had yet to stop moving. Slowly but surely, it gathered together, what remained of it merged into a ball before transforming. It slowly lost its sheen and solidified, resembling that of a rock. 

It trembled ever so slightly, before cracking to which a hand emerged. Bit by bit, the shell broke apart revealing a naked Zuo Er. His body had become paler than before and much more thin. Most importantly, a fifth black line ran down his face. He looked to the north before walking into the depths of the forest, heading back to his master. 

There was a blank look on his face, as if he was a puppet once more. 

In the coming days, the Eternal Blade Sect returned to its original pace. Ming Yue awakened only a day after with the help with the Eternal Heart Ring and other medicines. It was then that she was brought along to the main hall where the elders were, all of them seated with the sect leader at the center. 

 "Let me give you a formal welcome to the Eternal Blade Sect, Ming Yue."

He greeted her warmly while the others all had stoic expressions. Sitting with them was Elder Fei, who was covered in bandages but he looked much healthier than before, no longer as thin or haggard as before. Upon a close look however, he was no longer a cultivator but a common man now.

Standing next to her was Qi Yao and Fei Xian, all three of them faced the upper echelon of the sect. 

"Well then, all of us had heard Elder Fei's story. His battle with the masked figure which ultimately ended up in his capture..."

Sect Leader Fu's voice was gentle but commanding. He had short gray hair, a wrinkled face similar to that of an old man but clean shaven. His eyes were soft but something about them showed a fiery spirit, one filled with vigor and perseverance. A person of small stature, the other elders seemed to be much bigger than him but he had the strongest presence. As a sky realm cultivator, his strength was defeinitely the highest out of everyone and it would seem that he was at the gateway of the Heaven Realm. 

"...And the matter of Elder Jia has been revealed to us. I knew that he has always compared himself to Elder Fei but it had always been friendly competition between them. To go so much as to torture was something unexpected."

There was a look of disappointment and regret on his face.

"Furthermore, to collude with the same man that took Elder Fei, a member of the Tao Feng no less, this was very unexpected."

The other elders looked down to hide their disgruntled faces.

"I never would have expected that he would poison us and tranform us into his underlings as well" one of them said. 

"Valerian Snake Incense... I should have identified it as soon as it hit my nose. I cannot excuse my lack of experience."

Elder Dai, the elder of the Medicinal Hall, was especially frustrated with himself. As an expert in medicine and poison, he had a chance to prevent all of this from happening. 

"Elder Dai, please don't say that. Even if you had managed to figure it out, stopping it would be close to impossible. You of all people should know that it is a fast acting poison, especially since we were all in a smaller room."

"But Sect Leader..."

"Stop, you became an elder for your hard work. Nobody is perfect and everyone is bound to make mistakes. This time all of us made one and it nearly cost us the sect itself. In any case, we should thank these three for stopping what would've been the end to hundreds of years worth of history."

They all stood up and gave the trio a bow of gratitude. 

"Please elders! We do not deserve this treatment. It was Ming Yue who had saved us all."

Both Qi Yao and Fei Xian spoke the same words, neither of them had the strength to achieve what Ming Yue had done. 

"Indeed, that is true. Ming Yue, if there is something that you would like, so long as it is within my power I can give it to you. I know that you have been spending quite some time at Heaven's Gate, so our accumulations are not as large but please, let me reward you."

Sect Leader Fu looked at her, his eyes were clear as they locked eyes. She bowed and cupped her fists to them.

"I do not need anything. Knowing that Elder Fei is alive and safe is all that I needed" she said. 

"No, you should be rewarded. If not for you, our sect might have stopped existing. How about this? If you ever find yourself in trouble, you can return here for safety. I must give you at least that."

Ming Yue turned quiet before bowing. 

"If that is the case, thank you for this.. I will certainly return again but I must go now."