Maiden Of The Splitting Moon

She barely saw the shadow of the creature much less its appearance. Its small frame flickered about and rushed forth. Ming Yue prepared to guard against the oncoming attack when the shadow suddenly changed directions, sending out a blade of wind from the left. It shot around, bouncing from tree to tree, circling her and sending out more attacks.

It was too fast for her to chase after and so, she could only defend herself. She watched carefully and waited for an opportunity to strike. Her only chances occured when the beast changed directions. However such openings were extremely short, she only had milliseconds to react and she had to predict its moves as well.

She concentrated, slowly building up her inner force. She needed just one strike to stop it in its tracks.

As the shadow reached the ground to the right of her, her sword blurred as she struck at the very moment, the shadow landed.

It yelped in pain and dropped on the ground. Ming Yue's sword had cut its leg, rendering it unable to move. It snarled at her but felt fear towards her.

She approached the mysterious creature and recognized it.

"A Mistral Fox," she exclaimed in surprise.

The Mistral Fox was a rare creature, known for its speed and more for its fur. The fur of a Mistral Fox had a rare silver gray hue and despite having little practicality, it was a beautiful fur that many noble woman longed for. However, the elusive beast was hard to catch because of its agility. Killing it was of no use to her. Although, it could strengthen her wind affinity if she consumed it, it would not help much as she had already absorbed the blood of a Roc. Furthermore, she was curious as to why, the Mistral Fox attacked her. They were very passive creatures who used their speed to escape rather than attack.

She walked up to it and carefully picked it up, not caring for the blood in her clothes. It struggled to break free but found it impossible to escape her grasp. Xiao YIn cooed at the fox, as if it was trying to say that it was safe.

Ming Yue walked to a nearby stream, proceeding to clean its leg and bandaged it. It was extremely confused by her actions. However she was a young girl after all, it would be hard for her to not help it.

She left her cultivation spot and brought the fox along. It had a small frame was only a bit bigger than Xiao Yin, who was about a foot tall. Ming Yue still wanted to explore the rest of the area before she left.

As the three of them walked around, the fox's ears perked up and began sniffing around. As if it found something, the Mistral Fox struggled intensely to get out of her arms, even more so when they first met.

Ming Yue saw the desperation in its eyes and placed the fox on the ground, following it. When the fox finally stopped, she looked ahead, wondering what it could've been that made it so excited. However, excitement was the last thing she thought when she saw what it was, the bloody corpse of another Mistral Fox.

Its body was ripped up and left in a bloody pool. There were signs of battle all throughout the area. It was a complete mess as if a disaster has come across this place. The ground was riddled with holes and trees laid on the ground, broken and lifeless.

The small Mistral Fox walked to the dead body and whimpered, rubbing its head and licking the bloody wounds. Ming Yue understood what had happened immediately. This dead Mistral Fox was his mother, she must've fought another to protect him.

These scars of battle were a clear sign of how hard she must've battled. Ming Yue looked at the pitiful sight, a young cub mewling for his mother.

"Aoooooo!!!" a howl sounded off, a black winged wolf flew down from the skies.

It opened its jaws, waiting to devour the little fox. However, its swift attack was not quick enough as Ming Yue drew her sword and defended the fox. The wolf bit nothing but metal and could not even crush it with its jaw. Of course, Ming Yue's sword was not a normal one after all. The little fox stayed close to Ming Yue, hoping that she could kill the winged wolf. It snarled with defiance at the wolf.

The winged wolf retreated and attacked again. This time, it beat its wings sending out gusts of wind, strong enough to destroy trees. She did not recognize this beast but found its power to be almost borderline rank 3. It was possible for the wolf to destroy villages and small towns.

The wolf flew around and charged at her while sending out more deadly winds. She dodged all of its attacks and jumped up, propelling herself towards the wolf with wind. It was surprised with her sudden actions and tried to fly away. Unfortunately, she was too close and there was little time to dodge, she slashed forth, cutting off one of its wings.

The winged wolf fell to the ground but it did not lose one bit of its ferociousness. It wanted to kill the small Mistral Fox for this was originally his mother's territory. The wolf wanted to finish the job and prevent any chance of losing it. Furthermore, it desired the treasure that the Mistral Fox protected. But with this human girl here, it had become extremely troublesome.

After losing its ability to fly, the wolf resorted to other methods. It charged forward, attempting to get onto Ming Yue so it could bite her throat out. Ming Yue knew what it was doing and stabbed forth but the wolf dodged it. It was hoping for her to attack like so, for she would be left unable to stop it.

Such things did not happen, the wolf felt a sharp pain and found itself unable to run anymore. It realized that it could no longer feel its legs. But it had dodged her strike, the wolf did not understand what had happened and felt despair. The limbless wolf bled from its stubs and cried out in pain. There was nothing it could do now but die. Ming Yue left the sad creature and in her place was the little Mistral Fox. It felt fury for the one that killed its mother and attacked the wolf, devouring its flesh.

She watched quietly and waited for it to finish. Once the fox finished the last morsel, he looked to her before going to its mother. She left it alone to mourn and explored the area. She entered a cave a ways off and looked around. Inside, it was hard to see but there was a cold aura that came from the core of the cave. As she walked closer and closer, the cold aura grew stronger before she finally reached the source.

A small pond lied at the end of the cave. It was extremely cold to the touch and the water was crystal clear. She peered into the pond and saw no end to the bottom, only darkness. She cupped the water into her hands and drank it. Surprised to see that, it was full of energy, it reinvigorated her and left her body with a cool sensation. In fact, this pond might be completely made of inner force!

This was definitely a treasure, but Ming Yue wondered why none of the previous beast did not use it and felt that there was definitely much more to this pond. Without much hesitation, she dived into the pond, curious as to what wondrous secrets this pond held.