Maiden Of The Splitting Moon

Ming Yue didn't have much time to practice as she had to make her rounds through the injured soldiers and after another day or two, everyone was packing up to leave. A few detachments were left behind to help Hua Xiong guard the forest, a gesture she accepted kindly. 

As the armies lined up and organized themselves, Ming Yue walked back to her friend to say one last goodbye. In their final moments in front of each other, Hua Xiong stepped forward and hugged her closely. 

"Thank you."

She whispered into Ming Yue's ears before letting go of her. They looked at each other before Ming Yue cupped her fists and bowed.

"If you ever need help, just ask and I will come. If the Boundless Beast Forest were to find trouble, I will do my best to help", she replied before departing with the soldiers. 

As she turned, she saw Matron Shuang and her child look at her and lower their heads in gratitude for it was she that freed the young Hel- Fire Dragon. She nodded towards them and turned back. 

Thus, Ming Yue moved with the soldiers back into the forest, a trip that took several days from which it was quiet and peaceful.

For a time, blood was not shed for too much had already been spilled and to fight would be disrespectful to Elder Shu's passing. Along the way there the various soldiers all placed their attention towards her, often sneaking glances and whispering among each other. It was in this battle that she made herself known to the martial world. 

"Isn't that the Fairy of the Moon?"

"She was at the battle, wasn't she?"

"From what I hear, before we arrived, she dived right into the enemy ranks and starting killing them off by the tens."

"And that flash of light from before! If it wasn't because of that, we wouldn't have been able to find where the battle was so easily!"

"You know, I asked around and talked with the soldiers from Commander Nie Xia's command, she's not even twenty and already has the power to contend with the commanders!"

"Don't you think that's a little too farfetched? I mean she's so young! Or maybe, she's one of those old monsters..."

Just as these two began whispered amongst themselves, a third soldier joined in. 

"Psh, you guys must not have seen it! She rode one of the Hel- Fire Dragons and fought Kong Zhi, even managed to free the other dragon! If you don't believe me, ask around! Plenty of us saw it!"

"And don't forget that last attack when the Hundun Clan arrived! Do any of you think you could've dodged that? Such a beautiful attack?"

"Ah, that was... that was something."

"Beautiful yet distant, cold yet kind, and strong... Fairy of the Moon, hm... A rather fitting name."

"Hah, are you a poet now? A fan? Come on, let's get going! We've got a lot of ground to cover!"

"Yes, sir!"

Conversations like these sprouted throughout the armies making it impossible for Ming Yue to not catch wind of it. However, she wasn't bothered by it, rather she placed more attention on cultivating the Lightning Dao instead. 

Even as they marched, she would circulate the electric energy within her, trying to control it as she formed it from her palms. There was certainly progress but not to a point where she was satisfied. It could only be described as a snail's pace. 

After all, she had several years of carefully cultivating and practicing the Wind Dao. At this point, she only had perhaps a month's worth of experience with the Lightning Dao if she included her time in Merciless Storm Peak.

"Damn, this is completely different from the Wind Dao, so wild and disorderly. Trying to control at the same level is going to take a while", she thought. 

It was like she went back to being a beginner again. 

Small sparks shot out of her fingertips, threatening to strike anything close to it. Hei Yue and Xiao Yin weren't even by her side, rather they were just a bit behind her. After an accidental zap, neither of them dared to stay close to her. 

Ming Yue tried to be as careful as possible, letting out just a tiny fraction for her to use. But the amount of Lightning Dao energy in her body was immense and the moment she used it, the energy surged like a rushing river. She had to watch it carefully or else she would end up bursting out with a field of lightning. 

After marching and practicing for the whole day, the armies camped for the night where Ming Yue found a more isolated area to practice. 

She sat cross- legged with the Lightning Dao Manual in one hand and lightning coming out of the other. Reading the manual carefully, she comprehended the words quietly. 

"Lightning, quick and fierce, powerful and unrelenting, of the various Daos, this is a difficult path to walk for it is dangerous. Lose control and you will become dust... Creating different forms with lightning requires the outer body to be able to handle the power. Thus, one must temper the body in order to withstand the pain..."

These things she had already understood before, her body had been tempered by lightning several times already. She read further in, slowly getting lost in the words. 

"Attack with the Lightning Dao must be swift and without hesitation... It is a beast of its own, unruly in its own way... To master it and make it a True Dao is to understand its nature and control it as if it is you... Observe the clouds, the storms, the air and you will realize the intensity and power that the Lightning Dao has."

"Observe the clouds, the storms, the air..." she repeated. 

Ming Yue then put away the manual and took out a copy of the book of paintings, looking at it with interest.

She sighed as it brought up her earlier years.  This was one of the first treasures she ever found, a ragged book of paintings whom she found out to have been a collection of paintings by an expert known as the Savant of a Hundred Flashes. 

In an attempt to reach the Heaven Realm, this expert sought to study the storms and paint them, creating various collections. In time, he did break through but found a new hobby as well, painting storms when he had the time. 

Opening up this book of paintings, she studied them, trying to comprehend the secrets. The paintings were of storms in every form, from their creation to their end. There was one depicting the calm before the storm.

"It's certainly not the same."

She lamented, finding that while the paintings were accurate, they did not carry the same feeling as the original. Of course, this was only a copy, if Ming Yue wanted to see the real one, she would've needed to go back to Heaven's Gate. For now, though, this copy was enough. 

She flipped through each page, studying them late into the night. 

Despite having all of this energy, she had little knowledge of the origin of lightning and its nature. 

How does lightning form? In what shape does it take? How does it move? What sort of power was behind each bolt?

Thinking on these questions, Ming Yue thought back to her past experiences with this part of nature, the tenseness of the air, the electrifying sensation, and the raw power it gave off. From the Unstable Peak of Clear Spring Mountain to the Bolt of the Heavens summoned forth against Dai Mian, she gathered these memories together, using them to further her understanding of the Lightning Dao. 

Slowly but surely, she was making progress, day after day. 

But time was not on her side as she continued to march with the armies before arriving at the Iron Citadel, the place that Nie Xia oversaw and it was a fortress- like no other.