Maiden Of The Splitting Moon

A shiver came down the spine of Da Xian. In all his years of being a cultivator, this was one of the few times he felt that he would die here. He was a Sky Realm Expert, a master of Formations. This disciple of Dai Mian might not have been the best fighter but his techniques and skills more than made up his strength. 

"What is she doing?"

There was a bit of fear within him. 

Who was she? Where did she come from? Why was she here? Most importantly, how did she know of their plans? In that moment, various questions ran through his head. 

He didn't dare underestimate Ming Yue, even if she was a whole realm below him. 

"Was she sent here to hunt us down?" he thought, "I know the sect had been stomped out but... Out enemies shouldn't have been able to send someone for us. Not with the chaos that should've been created in the Human Continent."

"Damn it!" he cursed in his mind, "I just have to hold out until the toad is dead. Then I can put all of my attention to this assailant of ours."

Against the uneasy feeling, Da Xian began to build up wall after wall of roots, entertwined with each other into a small fortress of sorts. It covered the area, enveloping him, Wu Hong, and the Luan Xiang Toad. With this fog, he would have to disperse it or fight blindly, both of which would simply take too long. From the outside, he heard the sound of a sword humming as a fusion of energies threataned to release. 

And Ming Yue stayed focused on her attack, building and building until Drifting Sky barely hummed anymore, it howled. 

"Now!"

The moment it began to howl, she swung her sword in a clean and even horizontal slash. It was not fast nor slow, it was natural, melding with the flow of the world. Her body seemed ot move on its own, guided by the flow of energy. 

As she attacked, Drifting Sky released a white crescent shaped slash of energy. It was large and absolutely gave off that feeling of inevitablity. Whatever it passed through would be cut, that was the end of it. There were no exceptions, nothing could avoid this fate. 

It cut through the fog, the air, the roots and even the fortress Da Xian created. All of it was cut through like nothing. It cut through it all, going far past the fight. 

What followed was silence. 

The fog vanished as Hei Yue dispersed it, revealing the results of Ming Yue's attack. 

Da Xian's fortress stood for moments before crumbling. However, those within it were still alive although barely. 

"Hah hah, if I hadn't dug us down, we would've died."

Da Xian was feeling drained, maintaining the formation as well as his Ten Thousand Hellish Tendrils, was exhausting him of his energy.  However, he smiled in the end, turning towards the Luan Xiang Toad. Its body shrunken and turned to dust as Wu Hong stood strong, still facing the beast. 

Looking towards Ming Yue, he leaped out with his wooden sword, pointing it at her. 

"This is my chance, that attack should've used up everything she had", he saw the opportunity and took it. 

But he saw wrong for Ming Yue came to him. 

With the Eternal Heart Ring at hand, she still had some amount of strength left. 

But when she executed that strike, she was shocked. 

"That...that worked?"

While she expected something to happened, she didn't think it would produce such a result. But there was no time to even think about this. The moment she saw their silhouettes, she knew that this wasn't finished. 

Before he could even react, her Zephyr Claws flew forward catching the sword and grinding into it. With her other hand, Drifting Sky came close to his neck before he let go of his sword and ducked down. 

From his sleeves came out a handful of talismans to which he activated with his blood. 

"Spirits of the Damned, come out and cage this unchained soul!"

From these pieces of paper came forth shadowy apparitions that gave silent screams and an unsettling aura. But Ming Yue was unperturbed as she stayed close to him, keeping Da Xian occupied. 

But he was no fighter, just as these damned spirits came to suppress her, Ming Yue struck him in the arm, lopping it off. 

"Agh, wait, wait!" he shouted out.

Dropping to his knees in pain, he looked up at Ming Yue, getting a close look at her face. 

"A young girl?" he thought, "What does she have against us?"

He began to ask, "You... Who are you? Why attack us? How did you even know about our pl-"

She killed him then and there, beheading him in an instant. As soon as she did, the talismans lost their power and the roots wilted away. 

Then she looked to the final disciple of the group, Wu Hong, who stood still like a doll. Furrowing her brows, Ming Yue found something to be amiss. 

"She's dead."

Wu Hong's body had shrunken to just skin and bones. The only thing that seemed to be brimming with life within her were the eyes. 

The Yong Juewang were still open, flicking around until it caught sight of her. But she did not dare look into them. Such an unnatural thing looked at her, perhaps trying to coax her into coming closer but she wouldn't do it. 

"A thing like this... It should not exist", she was not dumb enough to understand that those eyes were dangerous. 

Putting her hand out, she formed two wind needles and shot them at both eyes, piercing them and destroying them. 

Finally there was silence, as she looked around at the scene, the bodies three disciples on the ground along withe the Luan Xiang Toad. 

"One more group left."

She looked at her sword, cleaning off the blood off with her sleeve. There was a some blood on her armor, some came from her own wounds that Da Xian's roots had inflicted onto her. 

"Do I even have the energy to do it?" she thought. 

"Hm, Xiao Yin isn't back yet but... it doesn't seem like she's in danger. If anything, they'll come here. With the amount of blood here, there's no chance they won't notice it."

Ming Yue gazed around her surroundings while Hei Yue walked up to her. 

"Come on, let's go hide for a bit", she spoke gently, rubbing his back. 

The pair left the scene, retreating to one of the trees where Ming Yue focused on recuperating. With this battle finished, the other was still raging on. 

From above, Hei Yue watched from a distance as the Gold Tusk Elephander stumbled forward. Its body was riddled with cuts and gashes as well as a broken tusk. The field of gold lightning it produced was much weaker now, as the strikes were only strong enough to singe the ground but not break it.

On the other side, were the three disciples, Fu Zi and the Chen Brothers, all of whom were panting heavily. 

The Fifth Sister then rested the scythe on her shoulder, standing tall as she looked towards the Elephander. 

"If you two can slow it down one more time, I can break off one more tusk. Don't forget, we only need one of them intact."

She looked back at them, carrying herself in a commanding manner. 

The two looked at each other before looking at her. 

"We will try."

They gripped their weapons tightly though the state of them were a bit dismal. Bent and cracked, it seemed that the sword and saber of theirs might not last one more clash. 

Running forward, they split up, charging from opposite sides of the beast. Throwing their weapons forward, they formed several hand symbols which caused their blades to enlargen in size and power. 

Flying forward, they stopped at the lightning field but tried to pierce it. Following that, Fu Zi charged towards it, leaping up as she readied her blade behind her.

A murderous glint in her eyes as she whirled her scythe around.