Maiden Of The Splitting Moon

Ming Yue was behind him, positioned in such a way that the Junior Brother's silhouette covered her.  He did not dare move, not even to look behind. 

"You... Were you the one watching us?" he questioned but the knife only pressed harder. 

The only thing he had to go on was her voice, delicate but firm. 

"Answer my question! What are you and the Tao Feng planning to do? Where are the other four groups headed?" she pushed for answers but he did not falter. 

"I am a loyal disciple of Sect Leader Dai and I will not say a thing. You are better off killing me instead. If you do, my seniors will avenge me."

Junior Brother Shou spoke defiantly and even went on to threaten her instead. She frowned from this response, unsure of what to do now. From his tone, he did not lie and was ready to die here. As easily as she could kill him now, this was a chance and she wasn't going to waste it. 

Ming Yue thought quickly before settling on a different method. 

"Do you not want to punish that demon over there?" she asked, "If you tell me what I want, I will help you exact revenge."

Junior Brother Shou paused, faltering in his defiant stance and Ming Yue continued to speak. 

"Your two wolves must be dear to you, no? I understand how you feel, I have two little beasts of my own that I've cared for. Their deaths would destroy me and the deaths of your beasts must be so."

He stuttered after hearing these words. 

"I...I've cared for them since they were born. It's been over ten years that they have been my partners. For them to die like this... Even though the sect leader said we could find stronger beasts for me, I knew that these two were for me.

"They didn't deserve to be killed like this, to die so brutally."

Ming Yue's voice became much more gentler, more caring. 

"As long as you tell me what I want to know, I will help you avenge them."

"But...I..."

He was conflicted, extremely so and his mind was weak, his judgment clouded. As loyal as he was to the Tao Feng, his pets meant everything to him. From the sorrow he felt, there was a rage and burning hatred towards Tie Ja. He looked at the demon, watching as he fought without holding back against his senior brother. 

The more Junior Brother Shou looked at his grinning face, the more that hatred grew and his mind was made up. 

"Fine, fine, I will tell you all I know."

"We fifteen disciples of the Sect Leader split into five groups of three as soon as we received word that the Sect Leader came here. He had made preparations in case his plan failed, ordering us to scout the continent and gather information about the various demons and treasures. In that moment, he had chosen five items to gather in order to for him to create a new body."

"A new body?"

Ming Yue found such information astounding.  His current body, damaged and broken, was going to be replaced. In a sense, he was going to be reborn. 

"Yes, we came here for the Yao Clan's so-called ancestor, his crystalline body to be specific. But that seemed unlikely to succeed so we are looking into their mines for Yao Blood Diamonds which are here", he revealed.

"Then what of the other four groups?" she asked.

"Two are headed to the Boundless Beast Forest, one is hunting a Gold Tusk Elephander and the other is searching for a Five Element Parasol. The fourth group is going to the Cerulean Serpent's Lake where the Deepsea Steel is. And the fifth group is going to a temple in the southwestern corner of the continent, over there is a Three Life Lotus. That is it."

He had revealed all he knew and Ming Yue took in the information before asking one more question. 

"Then, where is the sect leader now?"

"I do not know. Even if I did, I would not tell you."

"Hm, okay."

Ming Yue's expression turned somewhat complicated as she hesitated to move. This part, she found difficult to do but she knew it had to be done. 

"Thank you for your help."

She then pulled the knife away and moved it over his neck, slitting his throat.

"Heuk, you- you promised me..." 

He tried to speak as the blood welled up his throat and Ming Yue placed her hand over his mouth, dragging his body away. There was a bitter look on her face as she disliked having done this. To use his emotions and execute him gave a bitter taste in her mouth but she moved on nonetheless. 

Any remnants of the Tao Feng she let go of would come back for revenge. 

She looked around spotting the junior sister, still unconscious from Tie Ja's strike, and quietly disposed of her. 

Finally, there was the strongest one of them all, the one fighting Tie Ja to a standstill. 

Their fight was elsewhere, far from the others as to avoid any disturbances. Ming Yue watched as one body slung the other across the air, slamming into the mountainside. But there must have been some sort of barrier or restrictions, for the body bounced back, flying towards the other.

"Are you finished yet?"

The senior brother watched Tie Ja fly back towards him and clasped his hands together tightly.

"Sixth Strike, Warhammer."

His arms seemed to thicken and grow as blood rushed. The moment Tie Ja was in front of him, he raised his arms and struck the back, sending him straight into the ground. The moment he struck, there was an audible bang like an actual warhammer smashing into the ground. 

The area where Tie Ja landed cracked under his fall and he was on his back, grinning at the red sky. His body was bruised. a deep bluish blood trickled down his chin. 

"Come on then, I haven't got all day!" he shouted out. 

He stood up before falling to a knee. As one of the three kings of Kong Zhi's army, his strength was overwhelming and the senior brother saw it. From the ground, Tie Ja's body tensed up as he leaped forward, covering over a hundred meters in seconds. 

The senior brother raised his arms to guard but Tie Ja was swift, grabbing him by the face and grinding his body into the ground. 

Ming Yue watched, sucking in a cold breath. Both of these two were monsters in their own right. Both were equivalent to an expert of the Sky Realm, the upper levels at that, which made this quite difficult. Not to mention, the senior brother was most likely a body cultivator while Tie Ja had an extremely tough body. 

Their bodies were battered but she found that killing either of them would be a hard task. 

"Hmm, although Tie Ja is in a worse state, the other disciple will probably lose the fight", she thought.

"Still, I might be able to kill them both..."

Although he did his best to hide it, the senior brother was actually getting exhausted. He used six techniques going several hundred moves and each one took a big toll on his body. 

"Three left... If he doesn't die then, I may have to retreat" he thought, "I should play it safe, his body won't last much longer."

"Do you have anything else?!"

Tie Ja taunted as he continued to drag the senior brother through solid ground before throwing him forward. The senior brother quickly recovered and jumped forward, grappling Tie Ja's waist and pinning him to the ground. 

He did not give let Tie Ja relax, pounding his head into the ground. Still pinned down, he flipped the demon around and wrapped his arm around the neck, putting him into a chokehold. 

"Hurk- huk- is this- what you've turned to?- not even using your fists?"

The arm around Tie Ja's neck only tightened as he tried to get the senior brother off, elbowing his sides. They were both struggling to end this fight. 

And then Ming Yue moved.