Maiden Of The Splitting Moon

Everyone scrambled in thier surprised and rushed through the hallway. 

"Was he not dead?"

"How was he still alive?"

They all thought this. How was it possible that he was alive? Not even the Grand Elder could kill him?

"Or was it..."

"If the Immortal Army had regenerative abilities and even the ability to revive, then he could do it as well!"

At this moment, they all felt foolish to not have checked his body. But the Grand Elder was thinking differently. 

"I should have killed him. That attack decimates his body beyond repair or even revival for that matter. No treasure could have prevented it. What had he done to his body?"

The Grand Elder thought carefully. Indeed, that move destroyed his body, from his mind to his meridians, all of it was completely and utterly annihilated. He had even sensed Dai Mian's body after the attack, finding not even a shred of life force or even an inkling of energy. But if that was the case, then how was he able to revive himself?

"Watch out!"

The Grand Elder stopped and created a barrier that covered the path. Seconds later, jade-colored flames billowed from walls as if they had erupted from the cracks of hell. They licked the Grand Elder's barrier, trying to melt it but to no avail. 

"This hallway is full of traps! Everyone, be careful!" he yelled back to the others.

Now their speed was drastically slower than before. Not to mention, they were a large group as well. 

Dai Mian was far ahead of them and no one knew what awaited at the end of this hall. No one knew what exactly was there. Walking through this hallway, it lead them down into the bowels of the fortress, deeper into the Merciless Storm Peak. 

Everyone was tired and weary, their breath was ragged and sharp. They were still alert and vigilant, their eyes flickered about, watching closely. From raging fire to poisonous blades and verious formations, there were numerous traps all through out it. With only dimly lit torches, even finding your next step was difficult. 

Time passed as they went further down. They could not even hear the sound of the storm anymore, only their steps and breaths echoed through the hallway. 

Then, as if they skipped time, they found themselves in a large cavern. It was so dark that they had not even noticed that they had reached the end of the path. 

"What is this place?"

As everyone entered the large cavern, they looked around in awe and wonder for the cavern was not empty. They were not alone.

There was utter silence as they delved into the cavern and suddenly, torches were lit and the entire space was illuminated. The glow of fire gave off a dark orange hue to the rest of the cavern. It was eerie within this place, chilly but not damp, it was bright but there were shadows cast in every corner.

There was a sense of dread here, a slow growing anticipation of what awaited them. 

After a moment of surprise, everyone quickly shifted and looked around for Dai Mian. 

"He's there... and there's someone with him!"

One of them pointed out his figure, standing tall with someone's neck in his hand. 

Hua Xiong's eyes widened as she looked at them. 

"Senior Brother, no!"

She immediately opened her palm and shot out a blast of Light Energy. It flew at a blinding speed but it dissipated into nothingness, failing to even touch him. Dai Mian did not even flinch at the attack as he broke the neck of her Senior Brother and tossed him down. 

The others looked at him and then they noticed the horror he stood by. A massive pit that was now filled to the brim with bodies and most recently, ones dressed in violet colored uniforms, hailing from the Violet Sun Sect.

It was the same one Hua Xiong wore and everyone saw it. 

The Grand Elder furrowed his brows and looked towards Dai Mian. 

"What is this? You died on that last move and suddenly you are brought back to life. Those bodies as well... How far down does that pit go? How many bodies did you use to fill it? How many lives did you take?"

Despite his calm voice, the Grand Elder could not help but leak out the killing intent through his aura. It was heavy, as if you would be unable to breathe standing next to him. 

His words were met with silence as Dai Mian looked at this pit of bodies. A glowing formation circled the pit, siphoning what could only be the energy from the bodies. An ethereal white mist formed and was continually sucked into the formation. 

Lines appeared on the stone ground, riding up to the walls and the roof of the cavern. 

The Merciless Storm Peak shuddered as life force seeped into the cracks. 

"You want to know what I plan? You want to learn my secrets? It's too late for that now."

Dai Mian turned, revealing the appearance he now took and the horror he had become. 

His pale skin was partially melted into black slime but there was no bone or flesh. His face was liquefied like candle wax and it exposed what was underneath, a sleek black sheen from that of obsidian. What was in place of his eye was a red jewel that radiated a crimson glow. 

His true body was that of a puppet!

Everyone stepped back in surprise and Dai Mian grinned with whatever facial features he had left. His expression was truly gnarled and twisted as he answered the Grand Elder. 

"Are you shocked? Surprised that this is my body? The task I brought upon myself required ability beyond the mortal man. So I prepared a new body, one able to endure the weight of the burden."

He extended his arms and revealed what his true body was. 

The mountain shuddered even more fiercely and pebbles began to fall from the roof of the cavern. The walls cracked and all at once, the roof shattered and large boulders fell from above. 

"Be careful, everyone!"

While Dai Mian stood still, everyone started knocking away the falling pieces of the mountain. It rumbled and cracked until the sky was revealed. Everything above them had broken and fell away, exposing the storm above. 

The black clouds that churned ferociously was accompanied by endless lightning, rain, and wind. 

When the chaos stopped, everyone was drenched in rain and Dai Mian stepped forward. 

"Do not tell me that you dont have even an inkling of what I plan. The Merciless Storm Peak is named so for the storm above us, but do you know the origin of such a storm? It is said that this storm has gained sentience, divinity from the heavens."

He looked up and pointed at the sky with his black puppet fingers. There was a smile on his face as if he had planned this all along. 

"However, there is truth to that as well as a little falsehood. This great storm that which matches the Heaven's Wrath did not gain divinity. Rather, this single point is the origin point of the last calamity. What fuels this storm is the remnant energy of it."

Lightning crashed down as the pit of bodies slowly melted and disappeared. 

"Sometimes, you have to fight fire with fire."

Dai Mian then fell into the pit from which countles bolts of black lightning followed. Then the clouds condensed and fell into the pit. Everything that formed the Merciless Storm Peak was drained into that pit. Nothing was left, not the lightning, the rain, or even the wind. 

For once in over a thousand years, the sky was clear and it was a beautiful day.