Maiden Of The Splitting Moon

Chapter 542 – Preparing For The Ruins

After landing, everyone stepped out and looked right in front of them. 

"I know that it's called the Cracked Ten Pillars but it really is as it's called, just ten pillars, ten really big pillars."

Ao Qin muttered as he looked from the ground up towards the sky. 

Standing before them were ten massive pillars that stood nearly tall enough to reach the clouds. There were cracks scattered all over with vines wrapped around the base of them. Made from a white-colored stone, it was a wondrous creation that made many wonder as to how such a thing could be created. 

After giving them a moment to look, Lao Yang and Shu Yi stood in front of them all before the former cleared his throat. 

"The grave isn't far from here but getting there is the difficult part. Unfortunately, I'm too old to get there but Shu Yi should be able to bring you there, one of his brethren left a pellet", he said, looking at the mouse-kin. 

Everyone else looked at him as he showed slight embarrassment before recovering. 

"Ah so, whose going with me? There's Ruishi Lei but who else?" 

"Just me is enough, you can bring me there now." 

The White Lion answered him immediately, surprising Shu Yi who looked to the others. However, no one said anything, agreeing with this decision. 

"He's the White Lion, who else do you really need?" said Ao Qin.

But then She Xing stepped forward. 

"No, I'll go with them. Within this group, I'm most familiar with the ruins, albeit, I'm not as familiar with the path to the grave. Even if you know where it is, you wouldn't know what to expect. At the very least, I can warn you before it happens", she reasoned. 

She looked at everyone else before turning towards Ruishi Lei, who nodded after a moment. 

"I understand, then the three of us will go."

"Ye- yes, let's go before it gets dark."

The small mouse-kin looked at the pair, waiting for the both of them to give him some signal that he could go. 

"Lead the way."

Ruishi Lei looked down to Shu Yi, who sighed in relief inwardly.

"Oh, I can go", he thought. 

He then took another glance at the two before sniffing the air, walking to follow the scent of the pellet. The trio soon left, their figures disappeared into the lush vegetation. Lao Yang saw them off before turning around. 

"Yi Chao, Feng Zhua, we have work to do."

He called for the last two members of the Zodiacs, a horse-kin and a rooster-kin respectively. Yi Chao had the body of a man but a horse's head, despite being that of a scholar, he had a large body and quite a muscular one as well. Feng Zhao was a somewhat short and stout woman, whose head had a few feathers. Both of them were dressed similarly to Lao Yang, grey robes with a bit of silver embroidery. 

Joining the goat-kin, they all went to work, taking a number of strange tools and materials from their rings. Some were for writing and recording, others were for dispelling things like barriers and whatever strange hurdles were in their way. 

Everyone else just stood to the side, watching their surroundings. 

"Grab what you need, we'll have to see how these pillars fare at the moment."

Fully equipped for his needs, Lao Yang was the first to approach the pillars. He studied them closely, taking notes of whatever seemed interesting, whether it was the material itself or the marking left behind. The other two followed, each one with their own purpose.

Lao Yang was there to collect information, Yi Chao checked for any strange flowing energies, and Feng Zhua searched for any semblance of a mechanism. 

"I suppose all that we can do is wait", said Zhu Xie. 

The boar-kin sat down with a cheerful smile, looking through his own belongings and checking to see if everything was in order. 

"Just how many things do you have in that ring of yours?" 

Qiang Rong who had been watching for a while, couldn't help but ask. He saw Zhu Xie take out one thing after another, ranging from simple smithing tools to strange contraptions that only the boar-kin would understand. 

Hearing his question, Zhu Xie happily replied. 

"Well, I assumed that there would be plenty of things that need fixing. Not to mention, something like transportation of shelter. I could start a fire with wet wood or set traps to catch food. I'm quite the tinkerer."

"Indeed, I've heard of you. Zhu Xie, the Item Master. Any strange object that is found is first put into recording and sent to you. It either ends up under your control or salvaged and turned into something else. I'm surprised that you even came."

Jin Nao spoke out, looking at the boar-kin curiously but Zhu Xie only chuckled. 

"I mean I've always wanted to go on an expedition, especially to ruins like these. I'm quite a good fighter but I soon found my passion in tinkering. From there, I never quite got the chance until now. I certainly can't wait to see what things will be found?", he said. 

"I see, I understand."

The dog-kin seemed to return to her original state, seated on her knees over the grass. Qiang Rong then turned his attention to her. 

"What about you?" he asked, "I see that cleaver on your back but I don't think I've seen you fight before."

Taking a moment, Jin Nao looked at him. 

"I am Lao Yang's personal guard. Where he goes, I will follow. I know that I am not the best at fighting compared to some of you but my strength lies in medicine. Unless you are gravely injured or lost a limb, I can assure you that you will be healed", she answered. 

Her voice was very indifferent and pragmatic, so much so, that Qiang Rong could only respond like this. 

"Oh, okay then."

"And you three, part of the Four Claws! I wonder if we'll be going to the White Sword's Remains!" Zhu Xie blurted out. 

It wasn't hard to see the excitement in his eyes, the naivety in his voice as someone who had never been there before. 

"Ah yes, that place…"

Qiang Rong and the others showed a dejected expression, certainly not feeling excited over going back there.

"I wonder if we'll come back alive from that a second time", the monkey-kin muttered. 

Yu Tu's ears drooped down as she was not looking forward to it. With that, Zhu Xie's smile vanished. 

"I take it that it is not as amazing as I've heard it to be. There was a dragon of swords, no?"

Niu Hong looked at him. 

"Hearing about it is one thing but actually seeing it is a completely different experience, one that is just horrifying", he said. 

"I… I see."

Following that, the conversation had come to a lull as Qiang wrong had nothing else to really say. Ao Qin seemed to be asleep and the others were busy doing their own thing. Time passed by until they heard a rumbling in the ground, tremors strong enough to grab everyone's attention.

The tremors didn't last long and only happened once. 

"What was that? It was in the direction of the demon's grave."

"Do you think that something had gone wrong?"

"I certainly hope not."

"No, not yet, we shouldn't be moving so soon. Not when the three scholars are already set up. We'd have to split up our forces and that could be risky."

"Then… we'll just wait and see."

Their eyes continued to stare in that direction, trying to see if there were any recognizable figures returning. Soon enough, Ruishi Lei appeared along with Shu Yi and She Xing. Between the three of them, only the White Lion was injured. 

And as they returned, Lao Yang furrowed his brows. 

"Where's the demon's body?'