Maiden Of The Splitting Moon

As Ming Yue moved away, she thought about Fei Xian as well as the Eternal Blade Sect. Although she knew nothing about these names, she committed them to her heart. 

"I should go there sometime", she thought.

With that in mind, she had reached a crossroads. There were 4 destinations she could go to: Luan City, Tian Village, Death Wind Mountain, and Black Rock Forest. Seeing as Ming Yue had just come from Black Rock Forest, she opted not to go back and instead chose Luan City. She had some materials from her time in the forest and decided to sell them as it was starting to slow her down.

Furthermore, she had never been to a city before so she was curious.

After deciding her next course of action, she immediately started walking towards Luan City.

Soon, the city came into sight, It was quite large and beautiful. When Ming Yue entered, she saw streets bustling with people and full of life. Wandering around, she found a random store and entered while preparing to take out her materials.

It was quite small but relatively clean. There was only an old man behind the counter while all matter of items were shown on the walls. He saw Ming Yue but thought nothing of her. He believed that she was only browsing and would buy nothing.

But much to his surprise, she went straight to the counter and asked him, "You will buy anything right?"

"Yes, in my store, we buy and sell all sorts of items."

Then Ming Yue proceeded to take out all that she had hunted during her time in the Black Rock Forest.

"How much can I get for these items?" She said.

Piled in front of the owner were multiple animal parts ranging from wolves to other small beasts.

There was also a small pile of herbs that Ming Yue had collected but she had no use for them as she had a surplus of medicine and she had no way of refining some of these plants. While she could just ingest them, their effect would not be as strong and it would leave impurities in her body.

Being the daughter of a doctor, she could naturally distinguish plants and she had a basic knowledge of both human and animal anatomy so she did not have much trouble dissecting animals.

Most of these items were been somewhat common but there were some special items.

"Blue Wind Grass, Red Iron Stalk, Green Wolf Fur..oh my god, the poison bladder of a Jade Snake!" the owner thought.

How could such a young girl kill these?

After all, a Jade Snake was Rank 2 much stronger than a Rank 1.

Monsters and beasts were separated into 10 ranks with 1 being the weakest and 10 being the strongest. Rank 1 monsters take several men to defeat while rank 10 took at least an army of millions, of course, these beasts were quite rare and could only be found in unique danger zones.

Furthermore, there was a rank beyond titled "legendary". It was home to creatures such as true dragons, phoenixes, and many other jaw-dropping existences. The only people who could stand a chance were those that stood at the peak of strength.

Plants and other herbs had a similar system. There were ten ranks but each rank had 3 classifications: Ten Years, Hundred Years, and Thousand Years. This was because a plant went through a qualitative change at these time frames. For example, a Red Iron Stalk had the ability to strengthen one's body, at Ten Years, it would give 50 pounds of strength. At 100 years, it would be 500 and at 1000 years, it would give 2000 pounds. Furthermore, there would be fewer impurities so refining it was easier, even ingesting it raw would not cause many issues.

The owner's eyes twinkled at the sight of it all.

If such a young girl could already contend with Rank 2 beasts, imagine what other items she could obtain in the future.

"Dear Customer, the total price for these materials is 36 silver and 42 copper", the owner said with a smile, "I'll even throw in a discount if you're looking to buy anything.

He gave Ming Yue the money and even gave her a discount in order to get in her good graces.

She was a bit surprised by this gesture and soon started examining the many items in the shop.

There were a multitude of weapons and armor as well as shelves of books and medicine. This shop really had everything despite the somewhat low quality. When she went to the section full of armor and other protective items.

Ming Yue looked down at her robes, realizing that she did not have any protective clothing and that several sets of clothes have already been destroyed. With this, she decided to look at these items and see if there was anything that could replace it.

Armor had its own classifications as well, It was Mortal, Sage, Divine, World, and Star grade. Furthermore, each grade had 3 levels: Lower, Middle, and Peak. This was because armor of the same grade may have different effects that change their level. Perhaps there are two shields, they are exactly the same but one has an effect and one doesn't. Thus they would be both Mortal Grade but one would be Lower while the other was Middle or even Peak. Mortal and Sage Srade weapons were somewhat common, Divine Grades were only found in the hands of great warriors. World-Grade weapons are quite legendary and very few have actually been found to have existed. Star-Grade weapons are a myth and are only found in stories. However, those stories were nothing but incredible. These weapons were capable of cutting worlds or even space itself.

Suddenly, Ming Yue stopped in front of a light blue hanfu which was adorned with white decor, it was quite pretty and suited her looks. However, she wanted something suited for both travel and fighting so she passed. However, the owner saw her pause at it and took this chance to curry her favor.

"Do not underestimate the Floating Breeze Robe, although it may seem easy to rip, it is very durable and is slightly less weak to steel. However, the greatest thing about this is its recovery ability. No matter how damaged it is, it will take less than a day to fully repair itself. Furthermore, it is incredibly light and will not hinder your movements as it also comes in with a pair of slippers of the same name. It originally costs forty silver but for you, it will be twenty. It is a Middle Mortal grade item."

Ming Yue thought to herself but before she accepted, she asked the owner why it was priced so cheaply.

He sighed and looked at her.

"Ai, this was an armor meant for women, but how many women have actually become legendary figures. There weren't many idols to look up to and so they were not as motivated to cultivate and explore the outside world. However, there are still some figures that have reached the peak such as the Fire Deity Hong Mei or Merciful Nun Liu Qing, "

"Perhaps she will become a top figure", he quietly thought.

Then the owner packed up her item and gave it to her. Ming Yue accepted it and left. She was happy with her purchase. Now she had both a weapon and armor so she decided to find an inn to stay at.

However, there were so many other interesting things that she had been sidetracked. Stalls littered the streets with all kinds of different foods and other miscellaneous items and she began looking at all the small wonders that she never knew existed.

Night had begun to fall and she was still looking around. As she was walking she noticed a woman with a man. The woman was quite pretty and curvaceous as well but she had an uncomfortable look on her face. The man was dressed in some nice garments, he looked like a gentleman but he had a lecherous look on him.

Evidently, something was wrong here so Ming Yue followed them from afar.

Sure enough, the woman had been taken to an alleyway where two other men were waiting along with the one that was with her.

"Heh, don't worry, once we're done with you, we will leave your daughter alone. Call it bad luck that you work in a brothel, you slut."

They looked at her pervertedly, eyeing her whole body.

"As long as... my daughter is safe."

The woman had resigned to her fate, she did not regret working there, it was a dirty business but everyone was quite welcoming. Whenever one of them had financial issues they would pool in some money to help. Everyone seemed like a family. This sort of behavior was incredibly rare and she was eternally grateful. They were even nice to her daughter and had taught things like cooking and sewing in their free time.

But these men had noticed her daughter around the brothel and decided to use her to get some free service. It was extremely despicable but she had no choice. She wanted her daughter to be safe.

Soon, she began to undress as the three men stared at her like she was meat.

"Shiiiinng."

The woman heard a sword being unsheathed and saw a girl behind the men. The girl had an extremely cold air surrounding her as she held a sword longer than her in her arms.. It shined against the moonlight as she slowly walked towards the group of four.