Maiden Of The Splitting Moon

Her speed shot to another level as she ran towards Ling Hun, forming several Blasting Gales over her shoulder. All at once, they flew out, charging straight at him but then his eyes opened. Two beams of red light came out of his eyes, piercing the lances and making them burst in mid-flight.

He then looked at Ming Yue, who approached him at an incredible speed. It would take just seconds for her to reach him. 

"Ah, so you're the other rat. And to think, you were the one that injured the body."

Removing his hands from the Idol's head, Ling Hun jumped back before shooting off another attack from his eyes. At the same time, he took his mask before screaming out and a faint colorless energy seeped from his body, traveling towards the dead bodies of beasts around him. 

"You've seen what I can do! This is the perfect battlefield for me!" 

He cackled as the once dead denizens of the marshes slowly, rose back up, reanimated by his energy. 

Without warning, they looked at Ming Yue, baring their fangs and claws as they charged at her. With her dagger and the Zephyr Claws, she attacked wildly, cutting and crushing the beasts. Brushing past her were several black arrows, piercing their heads before bursting into flames. 

Sprinting past her, Xuan Yin readied her bow as she leaped up and aimed at the disciple. In one fluid motion, she shot three arrows at once. each one aimed for a different part of his body. 

But he was quick. destroying two of them with his eyes and grabbing the third with his bare hands. 

"Is that it?" 

Ling Hun smirked at her, unimpressed by the attack. However, the archer was not surprised or shocked in the slightest. In fact, there was a smile on her face. 

"Did you think those were ordinary arrows?" she asked.

He suddenly realized and looked at the black arrow in his hands before quickly letting go. The disciple was quick but he was not quick enough for the arrow to burst into black flames, burning his right hand. 

"Agh", he shouted in pain before, glaring at her. 

"If you think that was enough, you are sorely wrong!"

He began to float up before screaming out. Just like that, even more dead beasts returned to life, ready to do his bidding. Compared to before, there had to be over a hundred of them. 

"Go." 

His words were quiet but these beasts knew what they wanted, surrounding Xuan Yin while he went back to the Idol of Chaos. 

"I'm nearly there!" he thought excitedly, so much so that he even shouted it out. 

But there was one other person there. 

Before his hands could even touch the temple of the head, wind blast them apart as the ground was pressed in. From the skies, Yu Zhen landed on the ground, stabbing her massive saber into the dirt.

Separating them from each other, the commander looked at him before turning back to see the Idol of Chaos, on its knees. It was perfectly still as if frozen in time. Even more surprising was the silence, the countless voices of the Hundun Clan could not be heard or rather, unable to speak. 

As Ling Hun was blown back, he landed on his knee and steadied himself before looking up. 

His face was full of indignance and annoyance as he stood up.

"How dare you stop me?! I was just a step away from completing my glorious purpose!" he shouted. 

Yu Zhen gave him a glance before taking her saber out of the ground and swinging it to the side. Dust blew out from this casual swing while she smirked at him. 

"You must be the one I was told about. One of the disciples of the Tao Feng, tasked with awakening your sect leader", she said, "I can't let you come any further."

He looked back at her while standing up, his frown slowly turned into a smile. 

"You are just a tad incorrect. I am not just some disciple of the Tao Feng. I am the first disciple of Sect Leader Dai Mian and I am the strongest. I will complete his plan, fulfill my purpose!" 

He charged forward with his hands open wide, 

The commander turned serious as she swung her saber out but not towards him. Rather, she swung at the Idol of Chaos, sending it soaring through the air. 

"What? No!" 

He immediately leaped up, chasing after the body before a figure appeared before him. And then, he felt something slam into his face before being thrown down to the floor. And the Idol of Chaos seemed to have disappeared, dropped into one of the swamps. 

Ling Hun got up only to cross his hands as a massive saber came down. His energy gathered, covering his arms and blocking the strike. 

"What?!"

Yu Zhen couldn't help but be surprised as he pushed the blade off. His hands then moved swiftly to grasp her by the neck but she backed off. 

Her opponent wouldn't let her go so easily. 

His eyes began to glow as two red beams of energy shot out, curving and twisting as they headed towards her. She sidestepped avoiding the attack before looking behind her, finding that the beams turned back towards hers. 

"It chases you?!" 

Yu Zhen dodged before swinging her saber, thrashing the red rays with a gust of wind. Although she was quick with it, the attack had brought enough time for Ling Hun to escape. 

"He's going after the Idol." 

She realizes instantly and ran towards the direction of where she threw the Idol away. At the same time, both Xuan Yin and Ming Yue finished the last of the risen beasts before whistling out to their own. 

Xiao Yin, Hei Yue, and Liao Hua came to their heed. 

"Look for the one we saw before."

"Follow those two, make sure you are all safe."

As the pair made their instructions, the three beasts moved out, following Yu Zhen into the depths of the ruined marshes. 

"Come on, let's go!"

Xuan Yin ran behind with Ming Yue following as the group made their way. 

The devastation that the Idol of Chaos created was both incredible and horrifying. Nearly half of the swamp had been turned to dust with countless of its denizens dead. The air was heavy with the smell of smoke and ash. The grass was all but dust and what remained of any trees were blackened stumps. The swamps were nothing more than shallow pools of water, still steaming from the lightning strikes. 

Moving deeper and deeper, Ming Yue scanned her surroundings just as Xiao Yin suddenly chirped out loud. 

Just a hundred meters before them was Ling Hun, diving into a swamp that had sparks flashing over the surface of the water. Unlike the others, this one seemed to be disappearing quickly. 

"There! That's where the Idol of Chaos is!" she pointed out. 

Her speed suddenly doubled as she shot forward, passing Yu Zhen and everyone else. In those few moments, she summoned forth multiple Blasting Gales and sent them straight into the swamp. 

The swamp bubbled before erupting with boiling hot water. Two figures jumped out, landing on the other side of the lake. However, they both slumped down to their knees. 

As the steam dispersed, she saw that Ling Hun's body was injured. In fact, his arm was blown off and blood flowed from his shoulder. But there was a smile on his face as he dropped face-first to the ground. 

As for the Idol beside him, lightning crackled every now and then. It was waking. 

Without even thinking, Ming Yue gathered her energy, letting it course into the Pearlstone Dagger. She swung out naturally, not forcing anything. All she wanted to do was to deal with it, finish once and for all. 

As the dagger shined, it created the illusion of a crescent moon, a beautiful arc even more vibrant than her last attempts. 

And then lightning burst out as its hand came to stop it.