Maiden Of The Splitting Moon

Chapter 359 - Roots Of Hell

He tried to think of a countermeasure as quickly as he could, taking out more flags from his spatial ring.

"It's already quite weak, I just need to create a smaller formation", he thought. 

 However, Ming Yue would not let him move.

"Whistle Wind."

Blades of wind flew out from nowhere, leaving a whistling sound. They were quick and sudden, snapping the flags before the formation could even be completed. 

Da Xian narrowed his eyes. 

"Someone is here!" he realized. 

He stabbed his wood sword into the ground which began to tremble as ashen roots and vines emerged, wrapping around the toad. Even more shocking then that was the roots had formed their own formation and began take the creatures energy for its own. 

"Ten Thousand Hellish Tendrils!"

With the toad locked down, even more roots shot out, twisting through the forest and looking for Ming Yue. 

"There is someone else here, Seventh Sister! Keep the toad from moving! The formation was broken and this one can only trap it physically. If you lose control, it can still teleport out!"

Da Xian yelled out to her before riding one of the roots to check on Fei Man. Surprise overtook him as he saw her headless body by the Five Element Parasol.

"No, Twelfth Sister!" he shouted out but kept his distance.

"This could be a trap. Whoever did this must be watching right now!"

His eyes glanced around, watching for any movements as vines shot out, searching the area. 

"Where are you?" he muttered under his breath. 

But even after expanding to over a hundred meters, he found nothing but he refused to believed that it was so. 

"Someone tampered with the formation and Twelfth Sister was killed. If they aren't here then... Seventh Sister!"

He spun back and rushed to Wu Hong. 

But Ming Yue had long gone to her, she watched Wu Hong keep the Luan Xang Toad in its place. 

"Her eyes... Was she born with it?" she thought, "Or... was it given to her? Either way, her body can't handle it."

The Yong Juewang had a unnatural look to them as the crimson patterns seemed to change endlessly from one pattern to another. Ming Yue was apprehensive for those eyes gave her an uneasy feeling. She could not carelessly approach her. 

Instead, she formed a single Blasting Gale, adding enough power to equal ten of them. Sending it forward, this singular lance flew out, aimed directly at Wu Hong's body. She could not avoid it for she was too focused on maintaining her eyes. 

But the Blasting Gale was stopped as a wall of ashen roots shot out to protect her, splintering into pieces as it exploded on impact. 

Da Xian was able to protect her in time as he returned, pointing his sword in the direction of where the attack had come from. 

"Who are you?! Where did you come from?!" he roared out, beckoning even more roots to come. 

She didn't answer him, Ming Yue moved along the tree, whistling for Hei Yue. A black fog covered the trees, surrounding the toad and the Tao Feng Disciples.

From within them, wind lances and needles rained down on them as she sent out an onslaught of attacks. 

Da Xian shielded Wu Hong, standing in front of her back as he put up a wall before him. Directing with his sword, he moved sharp roots forward, piercing whatever was in their way. There were hundreds of them making it diffcult to dodge but she did not have to. 

"If you won't answer me, then I'll have to torture you for it!"

Raising her sword up, a sharp updraft forced the root upwards before taking her dagger out. Charging forward, Ming Yue revealed herself and cut the roots apart.

"There you are!"

He immediately saw her and sent another wave of roots at her.

With Drifting Sky, she cut them apart, jumping on one of them and leaping into the air. Flying foward, she empowered the dagger and sent forth another Blasting Gale before throwing the dagger. With the lance as a spear head, it broke apart any walls that Da Xian built up as the dagger struck his shoulder. 

"Uegh!"

He winced in pain and ripped the dagger out. Then he pointed his sword at her, making the roots chase after Ming Yue. 

"Wrath of the Winds."

A tornado formed and quickly grew, destroying the roots that followed her before wreaking destruction upon the ground. 

At the same time, she launched herself with a fierce gale, flying down and straight for the Seventh Sister. But the moment, she reached Wu Hong, a root stopped her sword strike. 

"I won't let you!"

Da Xian flew into a fury as he summoned even more roots, circling Ming Yue in an attempt to overwhelm her. But Wrath of the Winds prevented him from doing so, the tornado only grew stronger and wilder as it continued to destroy his roots. 

She turned back, facing the Second Disciple.

"I do not know who you are but you will pay dearly for this", he spoke viciously at her. 

Cutting his palm, he let blood flow into the roots, strengthening them. The ashen color took on a darker hue as the tornado could not blow through them as easily. 

Brandishing Drifting Sky, Ming Yue charged forward as she slashed the roots apart. But she could not reach him. 

"There are too many roots... No wonder he is the Second Disciple", she thought. 

Because of those roots, she could not do a thing. Even as her sword cut them apart, it could not cut through all of it. Sooner or later, she would be overwhelemd and her usual tactics did not work. 

It was then that a strange thought came to mind. 

"What about the stance of the Lunar Executioner? Would that work?"

It was simple enough to copy but to execute it correctly was hard to say. 

"No, trying that would take too long. I've never even used it before."

But the thought lingered, as long as she produced a strike strong enough to cut through it all, it would work. She didn't want to use Pale Moon just yet. 

"I could try it."

She whistled once more and Hei Yue's body ran into action, releasing a amassive black fog as she retreated. 

From a distance, Ming Yue stood there, assuming the position the statues took. One leg in front of the other, standing straight and tall with both hands on her sword. She took in a deep breath, falling into a flow and rhythm. 

Meanwhile, Da Xian looked around, trying to disperse the fog. 

"Don't you dare run away! Come back here and suffer the consequences of attacking the Tao Feng!" he shouted. 

His power skyrocketed as roots exploded outward, reaching everywhere, spreading into every little corner of the area. All of that in mere seconds but for Ming Yue, time barely moved. 

Looking inwardly, she followed the flow of her energy. 

"The stance created a natural course, all of my energy can be moved into the sword but then... I would have to merge it all, wouldn't I?"

Puzzled by this direction, she decided to follow it, slowly feeding all the different energies into her sword. Strangely enough, her legs seemed to lock into place as Quintessence Force coursed through her body and into her sword. 

"It could be used like this?" she thought. 

She had always seen Quintessence Force as the energy of the world, used to nourish but now it had become a part of her attack. With that very energy, it pushed her understanding of it all to another level. 

"To balance it all out and merge it, I need the Quintessence Energy..."

Before she could even ponder it, her sword began to hum with power, greedily filling up on all of this energy. 

Now all she needed to do was swing her sword.