Maiden Of The Splitting Moon

Ming Yue mulled over those words before sighing out. 

"Why does every clue have to be a strange message?"

She asked herself this, taking a walk through her home 

"Ah, I should go replace all of the chairs and furniture." 

Remembering her rather unique spoils, she walked into the house, quietly removing the old and putting in the new. As for the old, Ming Yue took it outside, piling on top of one another. All of it was made out of wood from the surrounding trees. These pieces weren't pretty but they served their purpose and served it well. 

Now that she had no use for them, Ming Yue turned it into something else. But rather than use her sword or the Wind Dao, her hand moved to the sword pendant.

"I suppose this would make some good practice. Though, controlling it is easier said than done."

Channeling her energy into the pendant, it glowed before the little sword released itself from the necklace. 

It didn't grow in size or show any physical changes. Rather, it just floated in front of her, releasing a quiet whistling sound. Despite such a small thing, Ming Yue was fully concentrated. The ring on her index finger glowed when activating the little sword. 

Moving just a tad, the little sword followed, and under her control, she began to cut the furniture up, turning it into firewood. Her finger just barely moved but the little sword sliced through without issues. Despite its size, it seemingly cut through things much larger than it. 

After all, it was a pendant, a little sword small enough to fit in her hand. 

And despite such a small thing, Ming Yue had trouble with it. 

"This is... way too hard. How can you even use this?"

It seemed as if even the littlest bit of movement could decimate this pile of wood. Even after several days, her grasp of it was still not good. After all, she wasn't some godly being, and sometimes, mistakes happen. 

"Aah-choo!"

Unable to stop it, she sneezed and her finger twitched for an instance. There was silence followed by several cracks and booms as a dozen trees from the edge of the clearing were chopped down. They practically fell together, producing a very loud crash at the crack of dawn. 

It was loud enough for Hongyu and the three beasts to rush out. 

The little girl took out her wooden sword while the trio bared their fangs and claws at whoever this attacker may be. But when they came out, there was no enemy for them to fight. Instead, they saw Ming Yue with a somewhat guilty look, noticing all of the chopped trees. 

"Oh, did I wake you? I was just making firewood."

They all looked at her for a moment before going back into the house for a bit more sleep. The act of which peeved her a bit. 

"Hah, going right back to sleep. I wonder what would happen if there was an enemy."

Moving on from this, she turned her attention back to the sword pendant and the recently chopped trees. 

"Guess I don't need to worry about firewood", she muttered. 

The ring's glow dimmed as the little sword returned to its place on the necklace. The whistling softened and slowly turned silent, no longer floating. Watching it return, she sighed before walking up to gather the downed trees. 

"The Guang Su Set... Speed of light... A pendant and a ring..." 

That was the name of these two items, a name she found on the note left with these items. 

"I still can't believe this was left in that room. A piece of equipment meant as a gift for one's wedding."

Indeed that note was much different than she had expected, it was a congratulatory one. Ming Yue still had it, taking the note out to look at it again.

"This is my gift to you, the Guang Su Pendant and Ring, one of my best creations. The ring controls the sword and if it's you, there is no doubt that you will be able to control it easily! Again, congratulations on such a wondrous occasion, I wish you and your loved one a joyous life!"

That was the message on this little piece of paper. Although there wasn't much written on, there was plenty of information to obtain from these words. 

"Whoever used to be in that room must've been the one that created this treasure and whoever this is for... must be some monstrous expert."

That she knew. 

With how sensitive this treasure was to even the slightest movement, she knew that it was beyond her current cultivation. Practicing with it now wouldn't have resulted in much progress. 

"If I was in the Sky Realm... or even the Heaven Realm... I could do it", she thought, "But I'm not ready for it, not in this state of mine."

She didn't feel confident in succeeding. There were simply too many things to think about. With Hongyu, the Savage Lands, and so much more, the time didn't feel right. 

"I need to deal with these things first."

There was a responsibility resting on her shoulders, a weight that she had always felt. 

"Hah, and here I thought I could rest."

She sighed, cutting up the trees into logs before turning them into quarters. With a few flicks of her finger, wind gather and lifted the whole pile, and it was brought to the side of the house. With that, her day started, training in the morning, lunch, gardening, and medicine making afterward. She also spent that time teaching Hongyu. 

Although the girl couldn't speak, she was quite smart, quickly picking up the skills and knowledge of it. It had come to the point where Ming Yue didn't have to watch her harvest plants from the garden. 

Watching her grinding up the dried herbs, the young woman couldn't help but smile as Hongyu rolled up her sleeves and went back at grinding. 

"Kind of like me..." she thought. 

When the day ended and the little girl went fell asleep once more, Ming Yue ventured out again. Entering the cave and going into those ruins. She walked to the spiral stairs and descended, skipping through the floors she had already seen and heading straight for the next one. 

Unlike the previous ones, she had to walk down a bit more, seeing that this floor was a bit separated from the others. 

"Hmm, what is exactly at the bottom then?" she wondered. 

Thinking this, Ming Yue decided not to enter the next one but instead go further down. She walked and walked, going down more than a few hundred steps, she made it to the end to which there was a single hallway, more brightly lit compared to the rest. 

"Hmm, so there are about ten floors from where I came... Then what about going up?"

Rather than explore the last floor, she walked up instead, going past the floor she came from and ascending to the top. 

"Let's see, one, two, three..."

Counting the floors from that point, she took note of what was there as well. But there wasn't exactly much to see from the stairs. 

"Hallway, door, hall, path... Hmm, wait this is..." 

Reaching the higher levels, it was beginning to grow brighter as well. And nine floors past the level she came from, she ascended into a massive hall. It was gigantic, larger than those cultivation and training rooms combined. 

Looking around, she found herself behind a dusty counter and her eyes wandered about, taking in this fresh scene. 

But after it, Ming Yue noticed something, that caught her eye. Rather, it was practically impossible not to miss it. After all, the Four Claws had told her of its existence. 

"A dragon made of swords."