Maiden Of The Splitting Moon

She let go of the dead disciple and quickly jumped forward. Yen Hua turned around only to find empty air. She touched the back of her neck and felt blood dripping from a shallow cut.

"Where is this bitch?! Spread out and look for her!" she muttered angrily, seemingly unshaken from the blood.

But everyone else was afraid now. What exactly was going on? Where was Ming Yue?

Their eyes darted around looking for any sign of her. It became quiet, eerily quiet as everyone strained their ears and eyes. But there were only trees and grass surrounding them. The sun had begun to set, casting shadows over everyone as they had begun to spread out.

Hei Yue had long disappeared from the fight, having followed the Clear Spring disciples that had run to get reinforcements.

"Hey... Did you see anything yet?" a young woman whispered to her friend.

"No, maybe we should just give up. She isn't worth the reward."

"What do you mean? Kuang Li is willing to give a hundred thousand mission points for her head. That's enough to get Peak Mortal Grade equipment!"

"Still, this is just too strange. Besides we already get mission points for joining the Junior Sect Leader. The better the results, the more points we get. We have to think about the bigger picture here."

"Ah but.. I guess so."

The pair were both outer disciples who had joined the Tao Feng through luck. Friends since they were young, their goals were like any others, fame and power. It was enough to say that they had endured their fair share of battle and hardship. But nothing could prepare them for what would happen next.

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Someone suddenly crumpled and fell down right by them.

"Hey, what happened over there?"

They walked closer to investigate only to find their fellow disciple with his head severed. His expression showed no sign of shock or fear, as if he didn't even notice his death.

"Hey isn't this Duan Yu?"

"It is..."

"Then Ming Yue is around here. We should alert the others quickly and get away.... Wei Qing? Wei Qing?"

The woman looked up to her friend who seemed to have stopped moving. A thin red line appeared around Wei Qing's neck and blood began to seep out. As she fell down, her head came off and rolled away, carrying a face filled with fear.

Blood seemed to drain from her face as she screamed in horror. Wei Qing had been killed and soon she would meet her end. That horrible shriek lasted maybe two seconds before it was cut short.

But it was long enough to alert everyone.

"I heard a scream over there!"

"Come quickly!"

Everyone ran to the location quickly and found the three corpses.

"Oh shit..." this was the collective thought of everyone.

If that scream wasn't enough to affect them, then this scene did the trick. One had died before even noticing, another lived long enough to fear for their lives. The third everyone assumed was the one who screamed out: a face devoid of color, wide eyes, and a gaping mouth. This poor girl had died miserably.

"I can't do this anymore. This is too much."

"I'm getting out of here."

"We shouldn't stay here any longer."

"Kuang Li's reward isn't worth this."

Some had turned away and ran but they were stopped.

In front of their eyes was Ming Yue walking slowly towards them before fading into the shadows of the trees.

A feeling of death washed over their bodies like ice cold water.

In that one instant, they felt a tingling sensation in their necks before their heads fell to the ground. The sight made everyone else sweat in nervousness.

The two sisters saw this from afar.

"How is she doing this?" Yen Nu spoke in a heavy tone.

"Yen Fen told us about her speed but this is just too ridiculous. She is like a ghost", said Yen Hua.

They were anxious, waiting for Ming Yue to make her move.

Ming Yue's mind was overtaken by the thought to kill. It wasn't blood thirst or rage that spurned her on. Her only thought was to kill, like a cold blooded soldier, she attacked without hesitation. She was in a trance of some sort and she could not break out of it. But what could've happened to have caused this?

Was it the pressure or the desire to survive?

She moved around constantly, hiding in the shadow of the trees. Whenever she struck, she killed. Appearing from behind to behead them, stabbing them through the heart, whatever was quicker and deadlier.

This was what she excelled at, coming from one of the first manuals she used, the Shadow Blade Arts. A manual that relied on blending with the darkness to achieve a silent kill.

The kill count grew quickly and there seemed to be more blood than grass. The stench of death was powerful. There were bodies everywhere with looks of despair on their faces.

Ming Yue moved without tiring, she killed quicker and quicker. Her opponents had been overrun with fear, there was no fighting spirit left. Those that ran made it easier, those that stood their ground were too scared to even realize her presence. Few had the courage and willpower to suppress that fear.

In the end, the Tao Feng's only advantage was numbers. The quality of their members was merely mediocre.

Kuang Li's efforts was in vain as the most of forces he sent had perished. Close to a hundred had been reduced to less than ten. All that was left was the two Yen sisters and some lowly outer disciples. Yan Xia had long escaped fearing for his life.

"Sister, what do we do?" Yen Hua asked.

"We have to escape. Our chances of winning is barely half. It might be in our favor but we will suffer too much to make it worthwhile. Let's go, quickly break the talisman."

The both of them took out a wooden coin and crushed it in their hands. Then they turned into bits of light and disappeared.

But how could Ming Yue let them go so easily. Noticing their hasty retreat, she disregarded hiding in the shadows and headed straight for them. She brandished her blade and sent off a blade wind. Unfortunately, it barely touched them before they left. The sisters saw her a second before they vanished, locking eyes.

It was a dreadful experience, a tingling sensation that none of them could forget. Looking into her eyes felt like staring into the darkest pits of the underworld. They were both paralyzed and mesmerized by Ming Yue's emotionless eyes.

Yen Hua and Yen Nu were fearful and relieved, Ming Yue's current state was just too strange. Nonetheless, they had avoided her and escaped a death zone.

With the remaining disciples either dead or had escaped, Ming Yue moved on, wandering the mountain. With no mental inhibitions, she was like a soulless puppet, aimlessly wandering.

Not long after, Wen Jing arrived to the scene with Xiao Yin. The disciples came back with others to aid Ming Yue. But they were all shocked, surprised by the amount of bloodshed they saw.

"Little owl, do you know where Ming Yue is?" Wen Jing asked.

Xiao Yin and Hei Yue met with each other and began searching around. It seemed that their mater was nowhere to be found. Everyone else looked around but none could find her.

"Did she do all of this?" Wen Jing thought.

It was simply too horrifying for her to believe. There were countless of bodies littered across the area and a thick stench of blood permeated the air. Wen Jing did not think that Ming Yue was capable of committing such acts.

She looked at the white robed disciples, instructing them.

"Tell the others that if they find Ming Yue, alert me", she said, then the elder left on her own to search for her.