Maiden Of The Splitting Moon

{When my son found you, I was both afraid of the kind of person that you'd be. But when I first saw you, I felt that you were someone in need. You have a past that I could only see as mysterious but incredible. When you revealed it to me, I knew that you needed peace more than anything.

But I truly didn't think this day would come so fast when Xiao Bai is still so young. I should've prepared better or perhaps, I just wanted to keep this life of mine forever. Still, it had to be done. 

Since you've planned to stay here, these books should help you at least. I know that much of this place is still unknown but you have the strength. I pray that you find the peace that you deserve. But if you must leave this place, then do so. No home is worth losing a life over. And if you find yourself surrounded by the tribes, just say that you are a friend of Bai Sheng. It is my name and once you say it, they will not touch you.}

That was what the letter contained, a message from Xiao Bai's mother, Bai Sheng. 

After reading, Ming Yue set it aside and looked around the house. Although the mother and son packed their things, it was only the bare minimum, mainly their clothes and rations. 

"I won't let this place come to ruin."

With the letter in mind, she silently made this oath. It was their home and now it was hers but at what cost. 

"Let's go through the books then. I'm curious if there's anything familiar in this continent."

With nothing else to do, she went to the books, sitting by her two pets and reading. The following days were peaceful and quiet. 

Ming Yue took this time to focus on herself, studying the plant life, gathering food and any usable herbs for Hei Yue and Xiao Yin. With the help of the books, she adapted quickly and even began to add on more entries. In more than one way, she was exploring medicine, using what she knew and applying it to what she found. 

Compared to the constant fighting, this was a welcome change, a time for her to satiate her own curiosity. 

By then, both Hei Yue and Xiao Yin were healing up quite nicely. Although neither could move quite well yet, they were awake and they were active, moving about so as to familiarize themselves to this place. 

However, this peace was short-lived as the looming threat of the Savage Lands came. 

At nights, they could hear the howling of wolves and the roaring of other beasts. There was no doubt that they'd be coming here soon enough. 

And several weeks after Xiao Bai and his mother left, they had finally come here. 

Upon a new day, Ming Yue opened her eyes as she sat cross-legged inside the house, finishing her meditating. Her eyes narrowed as she looked at the door as the sun slowly rose up. 

"They're here and they just watching us", she muttered. 

"Might as well get rid of them while we have the chance." 

Xue Yue suggested it with a nonchalant tone and Ming Yue agreed, holding her hand out for Blood Moon to come to her. The sword flew out of its scabbard and into her hand, ringing out as she grabbed ahold of it. 

"Let's do it."

Getting up, she walked to the doors and stepped outside of the house, looking at her surroundings. There seemed to be nothing there, just trees and grass swaying in the morning breeze. All that could be heard was the gurgling of water as the stream flowed. 

"Reaping Blade." 

Her figure vanished leaving nothing in her steps. A few moments passed before she reappeared at the steps of the house and sheathed her blade. Holding her spatial ring out, a few dozen wolves came out, all of them dead, killed by a single strike to the heart. None of them even had the time to transform. 

"Okay, let's start the day then."

After that, she skinned them all and drained their blood into a hole in the ground. The fur pelts joined an already growing pile at the side of the house and with the meat, she stored it all in her spatial ring. 

"Here Hei Yue, Xiao Yin, do you want some of this?" 

Cutting off a sliver with the Zephyr Claws, she laid it out for the two beasts to eat and the both of them happily gobbled it up. 

"That was the first time they've come this close to the house. I'll need to deal with that today." 

While thinking this, she cut off a slab for cooking later. After that, she went on her way, doing what she had been doing for the past several weeks. She washed her face and her clothes, switching into her Changing Clouds Armor. 

Compared to before, it was mostly fixed after the repair function slowly recovered back to its full strength. The same applied to the rest of her equipment, mostly repaired. 

With it on, she felt a certain sense of security, knowing that she wasn't as defenseless as before. 

And the day started, Ming Yue went off to gather herbs and other plants as well as hunt for more food. The rest of the morning was spent like that, harvesting and examining the plant life. SHe formed a single Zephyr Claw, snipping away at the herbs. 

"At least I recognize some of this but even then, there's so much that I haven't seen yet. There doesn't seem to be a system or ranking either. It's all just written up." 

She certainly had a few thoughts to add but ultimately, this was a peaceful experience for her. She had plans, after all, to create her own personal medicinal garden. 

Lunch was what she had the night before, roasted wolf meat. 

It was cold but still somewhat tender. With the help of some herbs for flavor, it was a decent meal. WOlf meat certainly had a smell of its own but it wasn't horrible. At the very least, it tasted like pork. 

When she finished, she grabbed her sword and went deeper into the thick forests.

The afternoon was spent doing just one thing, killing every beast from the Savage Lands that entered the area. In short, she was protecting her own territory, fighting back against the Savage Lands. 

Quietly moving through the trees, she scanned the area and listened carefully. 

"Hm, it's all just packs of wolves, is there anything more than that? It can't just be all wolves", she muttered to herself.

Despite saying this, she did what she did, killing them and taking them into her spatial ring. Ming Yue continued with this, collecting over fifty wolf corpses before encountering something she had never seen before. 

"What is that thing?" 

In front of her was another wolf but it was different from the ones she had encountered before, much too different. 

Its size was at least twice that of the wolves in their transformed state meaning it was four times their original size. But that wasn't all that changed. Instead of one, there were two tails and three heads, each one with a pair of golden eyes, contrasting its gray fur. 

It stood there, its three heads looking around and sniffing the air. 

After a moment, it howled out as if calling its underlings but out of all the groups that were sent out, only a few returned. Seeing this, it snarled at them all, the fur raising on its ends in anger. It was angered by the result but also because someone was opposing it. 

And that someone was Ming Yue, watching them from afar. 

Her hand rested on Blood Moon's hilt as she studied them.