Maiden Of The Splitting Moon

It unsheathed the blade, revealing a giant saber. It was a simple weapon, adorned with only a yellow tassel made with its own fur.

After brandishing the saber, it swept the blade across the arena, sending out a wave of lightning. Following the attack, the Thunderhide Ape began launching more and more waves, swinging its weapon like a maniac. The way it used the saber was brutal and had no technique, pure power made up for any weaknesses it had. Everyone dodged as best as they could but some could not move quickly, struck by the wave and convulsing on the floor.

Around 100 have already been disqualified, leaving 300 competitors left. Unfortunately, none of them could come up with an adequate strategy to defeat the ape. Their best chance was gone for the farm boy did not have the strength in him to activate the technique a second time.

"We cannot just give up here! This trial will not stop until either we defeat the ape or it defeats us. We must fight to the end!" Yu Yao Xian took command of everything, her mentality could not be so easily broken.

"Attack in groups, surround and whittle him down. Ranged or melee, it does not matter. As long as we coordinate, he will not have a chance to fight back", she spoke with confidence, believing that it was not unscathed.

Everyone followed, quickly dividing themselves and began the process of attacking. Left, right, the back, the front, above, and below, the ape was attacked from all sides. It was annoyed that it could do nothing. Everyone advanced and retreated in seconds, leaving no time for the ape to launch a counter attack. It was somewhat slower than them, even more so with the damage it had received.

"Hmm not bad", a figure rubbed his chin, sitting next to the emperor, this was none other than Lord Tang Guang, the Thunderhide Ape's master.

"This will end soon", he continued to watch their performance.

"If you have any more trump cards, best do it now!" one of the competitors said. It was the girl in white, retreating and began building up her energy.

Other's felt the same, realizing that it would take too long to bring down the ape. The consumption of their energy was too high and would not last.

"We need time, delay it!" several of them also began to charge up their skills.

Those that did not have any trump cards had to occupy the ape. As a part of this group, Ming Yue was at the front, taking on many of the wild strikes from the ape. In terms of sword skill, she was one of the best, deflecting many of the attacks and even disrupting the ape's lightning strikes. She made it her responsibility to prevent any more of those attacks. Others would take advantage of those moments, whittling away at the ape. Rock dragons, beams of light, sword strikes, fist stances and many other techniques appeared, there was not a single second where the ape was not in pain.

It tried its very best to defend itself, blocking and dodging as many attacks as possible. But it was getting furious, with the saber in hand, it stabbed the blade deep into the ground. Beating its chest and bellowing in rage, it began rampaging. Ignoring the attacks and grabbing anyone in its reach. Several unlucky souls were thrown out of the arena, crashing into the wall. If it continued to rampage, there would be no one left to fight it.

"We just need to hold out a bit more", Ming Yue thought.

At that moment, she felt someone kick her back right into the ape's hand.

"Serves you right bitch," hearing a familiar voice, she turned her head to find Shao Huang grinning viciously at her, "You should've given me the Mistral Fox when you had the chance. After this, be sure to come to my family, I'll definitely treat you right."

She felt rage in her heart, to be victim to his detestable behavior infuriated her. A rush of power coursed through her as wind began to blow violently. Her anger only grew as more power accumulated with in her body. Before long, it began to encase her body cutting into the ape's palm. Where this power came from, not even she knew. Perhaps it was from anger, that she could muster this strength. In the few seconds, that the ape held her, intense pain ran through its arm. Letting her go, it grabbed its hand in pain, bloody and covered in gashes.

As for Ming Yue, all of that wind accumulated into a small tornado upon which she stood on. Realizing what had just occurred, she was surprised. When was she able to produce something like this?

Many others were equally surprised, she had even injured the ape. Tang Guang looked at her with curiosity, even the emperor did so too.

"What power!" he said, "Her control over wind is too good. Why have I never heard of her before?"

Indeed, Tang Guang had seen through the secret of this phenomenon. What Ming Yue pursued as the changeable state of wind as well as the balance of sword and wind, lead to a vast improvement of control. Thus, it had grown to the point where wind would respond to her emotions, taking up a form befitting of such emotion. In this case, she had formed a tornado based on her anger.

Shao Huang stared in horror, "I was just joking with you. I never meant any of those words."

He backed away, fearing for his life. There was a feeling that he might really be killed by her.

She approached him slowly, "Do you think I will let you go?"

Before she got any closer, someone landed in-between the both of them. A man, possibly around the age of forty, had stopped her. With a friendly demeanor and simple clothes, one could mistake him as a common person.

"Please relax. The third trial has ended", he said.

Ming Yue was not that impulsive and quickly dissipated the tornado below her.

"Lord Tang Guang, I apologize for my negligence. I should've stopped them earlier", the tournament announcer quickly walked up and knelt before him.

"No, no, its quite alright. It was my fault for not giving clear instructions. The moment Hou Huang called his saber, they had already passed the trial", he said.

Tang Guang walked to the Thunderhide Ape, "Hou Huang, show me your hand."

The ape followed his command, letting him examine the state of his body.

"Thankfully, it's nothing too serious," he said, "I'll get you healed up."

The both of them then disappeared, leaving the arena without a trace.

"The trial has officially ended! Those are still stand in the arena will advance to next half!" the announcer quickly concluded the trial, before leaving.

Everyone was surprised, "That's it?"

"The third trial ended just like that?"

Many of them were slightly unhappy but accepted the result. After all the fight was truly a sight to see. Ending it so abruptly was disappointing but they did get to see Lord Tang Guang up close, that of itself was an experience to boast about. However none of the young cultivators really complained. After all, they knew that killing a rank 4 was beyond their capabilities, as long as they passed the trial, they did not care for much else.

After the end, everyone was given three days to recuperate while the tournament prepared fro the next act. Ming Yue said farewell to Yao Xian, confirming that she will visit her after the tournament.

Her mind was still preoccupied with the sensation from before. She had never done something like that, to create a small tornado was new to her. She wanted to go back to the inn and contemplate her actions, hoping to recreate that scene.. If she could successfully create natural phenomena with the same power and control as what she did before, she could begin to create her own unique style.