Maiden Of The Splitting Moon

"The Forest Keeper?"

The small group casually walked through the forest as Ming Yue and Hua Xiong conversed. It was strange to say the least. 

The Boundless Beast Forest is a place of immense danger with no end to powerful monsters. Danger was everywhere, there are always eyes watching you, the thought that death could come at any moment is a lingering one. The invisible pressure of it all is enough to break ordinary people, even those who have faced danger before dare not to stay in one place for very long. 

And yet, standing beside Hua Xiong, Ming Yue felt none of that. That tense and heavy atmosphere was nowhere to be found. It was like they were just strolling through an ordinary forest. 

She found it strange but knew that it had to have been because of the tortoise, the one Hua Xiong refered to as the Forest Keeper.

But who was this beast exactly?

What relationship did it have wth Hua Xiong?

More importantly, what happened to her in these past few months?

The young cultivator intended to find out. 

Hua Xiong looked at her before answering. 

"The Forest Keeper is the guardian of the Boundless Beast Forest. It is the oldest beast alive and is comparable to the forest\'s caretaker. Should a large incident occur, it will make its move."

"Like it did some time ago?" said Ming Yue, referring to the story told by the captain. 

Hua Xiong let out a sigh as her eyes turned a bit moist. 

"Yes, before I met the Forest Keeper, the one known as Kong Zhi sought to capture a beast and headed into the very depths of the forest. The Human Armies came to stop him but the battle ahd grown so uncontrollable that the Forest Keeper had to put a stop to it. But due to its age, it could only move so much. It I was not there, the Forest Keeper might not have been able to live for much longer", she explained. 

"Then how did you and the Forest Keeper meet? Dai Mian took grasp of you when he teleported to the Demon Continent. You would\'ve been in the northern moutains but you\'re here. At least month\'s travel away if not more if you were wandering."

Hua Xiong then stopped and looked at Ming Yue, her eyes showed indifference to what she heard. 

"Is that what happened? When I came to, I had awoken by the Forest Keeper\'s side. Apart from that, I barely remember anything from the past, only my name and my sect. I hope that my brothers and sisters are alright. Do you by any chance know what happened to them?"

Ming Yue turned silent. She had long knew this but to think that Hua Xiong had reverted this much. 

Looking at her face, she found the Hua Xiong now seemed more innocent. Her words had emotion to them, kindness, something that she had lost when obtaining Yan Hui Zhu\'s inheritance. 

"Your entire sect was killed, sacrificed by the Tao Feng Sect\'s Leader, Dai Mian. By the time, you and I had arrived, it was already too late."

She broke the truth while looking at Hua Xiong. In a matter of seconds, she saw her eyes flicker as her face turned stiff. There was a river of emotions coursing through Hua Xiong as she heard those words but her eyes turned hopeful. She stood there, looking at Ming Yue. 

"Are you sure? That can\'t be right. The entire sect is gone?"

Ming Yue nodded. 

"We were there when Dai Mian killed the last member of your sect. You screamed out for your Senior Brother."

"Stop! Stop..."

Hua Xiong cried out as she clutched her head with her hands. 

"You\'re lying, how can they all be dead? How?"

Looking at her now, Ming Yue felt pitiful for her. Hua Xiong had to know experience this news a second time. She waited for her, watching her struggling with what she learned. 

"They are dead but Dai Mian isn\'t. He was near- death when he escaped and took you with him."

Hua Xiong slowly put her hands down as she looked at Ming Yue in the eyes. 

"You said I sacrificed myself in the end. What did you mean?" she asked. 

Ming Yue silent for a moment, choosing her words wisely.

"In the battle against Dai Mian, there were various experts who worked together to stop him. He had begun his plan to absorb the energy of the Merciless Storm Peak and succeeded. However, with everyone\'s cooperation, we managed to stop him. His body was lifeless when we won but it turned out that he was still not dead. When we prepared to leave, he rose back to life and tried to grab me and take my sword."

She paused here, remembering the moment it happened. 

Dai Mian\'s illusory hand flew out, trying ot grab Ming Yue only for Hua Xiong to push her into the ship. That hand that tried to get her and taken her comrade. All she could watch was her back as she fell to the depths. 

In Ming Yue\'s mind, she knew... 

"But in that moment, you took my place and let yourself get taken by him. At first, I wondered why, I couln\'t sleep for several nights, wondering if that was what you wanted. In the end, I was unsure."

"I see."

Hua Xiong looked away, her eyes in contemplation as she began walking through the forest again. She was silent, perhaps still in shock of what Ming Yue had told her. Looking forward, it was hard to see what exactly was going on in her mind. 

"Was all of this true?" she thought, "Would Ming Yue lie to me? No, if she did lie why would she make such an elaborate one? But if... if everyone is dead...what will I do now?"

Although Ming Yue couldn\'t see it, she knew that Hua Xiong was pondering about the future. With her entire sect dead, what happened now?

"The sect halls... was it all destroyed? Did those other sects take anything?" she suddenly broke the silence with those questions.

"This I do not know. During the fight, he had begun absorbing the energy of the heavens themselves and trying to prevent another calamity. In doing so, he called it down prematurely. The skies tured dark and thunder came down constantly, safe to say all three continents were affected by this. On that note, everyone is trying to save whatever they can and try to rebuild."

"Then... you\'ve seen the aftermath, no?"

"I have..."

"How is... how is everything?"

Ming Yue was silent for a moment before speaking, her eyes showed various emotions. 

"If we had stopped it any later, the continent would have been shattered into pieces. Even more lives would have been lost to the utter destruction the Heavens caused."

"I see... I see."

They stopped speaking after that, walking through the forest until dawn where they reached the deepest parts of the forest. 

And Ming Yue was shocked to find a village in front of her. Even more shocking was that there were demons living there, children even, running around happily. It wasn\'t just one race of demon either but multiple races all within this village. There were at least a hundred here if not more. 

""Where...what is this?" Ming Yue asked. 

"Its a haven... for those who do not wish to enter war. All of these people wish to live in peace. At the same time, there are many here who escaped from Kong Zhi, looking for shelter. This is what the Forest Keeper sought to protect as well."

"Really..."

Ming Yue looked at this village, finding it to be peaceful in a way. None of them had unhappy expressions, seemingly moving about with little to worry. 

Hua XIong then looked at her. 

"Come, we will meet the Forest Keeper."