Maiden Of The Splitting Moon

Despite releasing such a powerful attack, the black cloud only reformed, becoming larger than before. What was worse was what had joined them. It wasn't just those that flew but hundreds of them crawling through the ground. From beetles to centipedes and even roaches, they seemed to climb out of the soil, skittering towards them. 

"We should go!"

Xuan Yin panicked, trying to get Ming Yue to stop wiping the sap off her.

"Let's go!" 

She urged Ming Yue to go but she didn't budge, wiping off the sap before tossing the cloth down at the swarm. 

As it flew inside, all of them suddenly turned to go after the cloth, leaving them alone. 

Ming Yue looked at them before turning back to Xuan Yin. 

"That will buy us some time. We have to go and wash off the rest of it."

She then grabbed her by the arm, bringing everyone away from this thick cloud of insects. Xuan Yin couldn't help herself, looking back at them before feeling a little sick. 

"Yes, we should probab- definitely leave."

And swiftly they fled, moving towards the outskirts of the forest where there was a stream of clear water. There, Xuan Yin took the time to rinse her hair, cleansing it of any sap. She even took off her armor, washing it clean. 

Ming Yue waited and watched, petting and scratching the three beasts by her side. 

"So about the sap, what would've happened?" the archer asked.

Ming Yue then took out the small book from before, reading through it for her to hear.

"If you have come into contact with any sap whether it is golden or clear or has some sort of color, it must be washed immediately. If not done quickly, it will attract the Black Swarm, in which thousands of bugs ranging from the harmless to the deadly will come."

"If you are too late and the swarm comes for you, you must take off anything that has been touched by the sap. At first, they will devour the sap and then they will come for your flesh. You will feel hundreds of small bites and stings before the dangerous ones inject you with their poison. By then, it will have been too late. You will die under the pain of hundred different poisons before these insects devour your flesh."

"Thankfully, such a fate has yet to happen but if you are touched by the sap, please remove it as quickly as possible." 

Once finished, Ming Yue looked up at Xuan Yin, whose face was full of terror and disgust. What more, she looked at the water and began to wash and scrub herself and her equipment furiously. 

"Why is that even a thing?! This sap comes from those trees, damn it! Why don't they go up there instead of at me?!" 

She couldn't help but get squeamish and complain about it. And in response to such a sight, Ming Yue chuckled briefly. 

"if I remember correctly, it's because the leaves of those trees are laced with poison. If they try to eat the sap, it will cause them their death."

She explained while trying to hold back her amusement but that piece of information only made Xuan Yin's face drop even more. 

"Poisonous? Wha- maybe I should've stayed back at the camp." 

"I mean you could but you're already here and it's been half a day. Might as well finish the mission, right?"

After hearing Ming Yue's words, Xuan Yin thought deeply, pondering as she continued to wash herself. Soon after, she let out an exasperated sigh, slumping her shoulders over and looking at her friend with defeated eyes. 

"You're right and I did I say that I would stick with you", she relented. 

Ming Yue nodded before walking up to the edge of the stream. 

"I'm going to organize what I have and put them into your spatial ring, alright?"

"Wait, wait, let me just do this." 

Wading through the waters, Xuan Yin took off her spatial ring, holding it in her hands. Closing them, a light shined through her fingers before opening. 

"Alright, I've made it so that you can use it now."

She handed the ring over to Ming Yue, going back to washing. 

"Thanks." 

Carrying it in her hands, Ming Yue moved away, looking for a spot to put down all of what she had harvested. After a few moments, she retrieved her spoils from her spatial ring, a decently sized pile of plants. From roots to flowers to berries and leaves, there was a variety of them and enough to fill a basket. 

One by one she began to clean off any dirt, organizing them and bundling them together with strips of fabric. With her skill and knowledge, she was finished pretty quickly, done just as Xuan Yin had finished drying her equipment and donning it. 

In the middle of all this, those three pets of theirs were busy playing in the river stream. 

"Alright, ready to go?" 

Xuan Yin walked towards Ming Yue with a confident step, most likely preparing herself for what may come later. The cultivator looked at her friend and stood up, giving back the ring and taking out her dagger. 

"Let's continue."

With that, they ventured back into the Primeval Forest, walking through the colorful florae and stopping often for Ming Yue to collect. 

Along the way, they came across a plethora of deadly plants. From vines looking to strangle their foes to poisonous moss and even thorny roots. Each time, such danger was swiftly dealt with through an arrow or a blade of wind. 

By the end of the night, Ming Yue had gathered enough to fill several baskets but that amount could not fill either of their spatial rings. At this point, they camped for the night, finding a clearing in this place. 

Their meal consisted of dried meats and any edible plants that Ming Yue had found. 

"Alright, I'll take the first watch and then you take the second?" Xuan Yin asked. 

Ming Yue nodded. 

"That's fine." 

After a quick deliberation, she went to sleep before waking up in the middle of the night to switch with Xuan Yin. During her turn, she looked around them every now and then, making sure that nothing was coming. It would've been unfortunate if they had been found by something worse than the Black Swarm. 

And while they were lucky enough to not have had that happen, something occurred. 

Off into a distance, Ming Yue noticed something strange, a faint green light peeking through the trees and bushes. 

"What is that?" 

She squinted her eyes before moving positions, trying to get a better look. However, it wasn't enough for her to see. Moving towards, Xuan Yin, Ming Yue shook her friend awake. 

"Huh, wha- what's going on? It's still nighttime, isn't it? Don't tell me we were going to wake up early for this?"

Her friend slowly wakened, groggy and complaining. 

"Look, there's something over there, some strange green light. We should see what's going on", Ming Yue told her.

"Wha- a green light? What are you talking about?" 

Xuan Yin rubbed her eyes before looking around and finally spotting what Ming Yue had told her about. A moment later, her eyes seemed to have gained clarity as she grabbed her bow and slung it over her shoulder. 

"We should definitely check it out", she said, fully awake and alert. 

Together along with the Xiao Yin and the other, the group quietly moved through the forest. As they came closer, the green light slowly grew stronger as it seemed to resemble more of an emerald hue. 

And with this growing light, they finally saw something! 

A shadow of some sort, in fact, various shadows that moved around in a joyous manner.

"Were these people? Demons?" they wondered. 

Both Ming Yue and Xuan Yin gave each other a look before walking closer and closer, looking to take a peek.