Maiden Of The Splitting Moon

"Pirates?" they thought.

"We should check the deck", said Li Gang.

The two of them quickly walked up to the deck and looked out. Groups of sailors rushed about carrying crates of ammunition. Cannons were wheeled out and placed on the right side of the deck, facing the small group of ships. These cannons were different from any ordinary ones, a large yellow gem was embedded to the barrels of each cannon. If one was to examine it closely, they would find that these gems were filled with the energy of lightning.

"Thunder Cannons! and so many! What sort of pirates could we have encountered?" Li Gang questioned.

One of the sailors noticed them and walked up.

"Dear guests, please stay inside! These are the Skulldrop Pirates, unless you want to defend this ship with us, we advise you to stay in", he said.

After speaking, loud cracks resounded through the sky as the Thunder Cannons shot out streaks of bright yellow. A perfect arc made its way towards the pirates, landing on one of the ships. On impact, a bright flash colored the sky as lightning crashed down, burning parts of the ship.

The pirates fought back with their own shots. These were unlike the thunder cannons however, they were ordinary steel balls that sunk itself into the ship, weighing it down and slowing them.

"Damn bastards! Shoot! Shoot! Give them hell for attacking a ship of the Blue Skies Caravan!" the captain yelled from his cabin. A scruffy man that wore a white sailor uniform commanded his men.

Many of the passengers stayed in their rooms as suggested, none of them were great fighters and those who were could not do a thing in a battle of this scale. However, Ming Yue wanted to help, she defended the ship with Li Gang, who had already pulled out his great sword. They knew that the pirates would reach them and board.

The captain turned the ship around, trying to lose the pirates but it was in vain. The gap between the ships grew closer and closer until they were only a hundred meters apart. The cannonballs from the pirates had slowed them down.

A closer look at the ships had shown Ming Yue why these pirates were named Skulldrop. Almost every part of the ship had some skull decorating it, from humans to beasts, there were skulls all over. Furthermore, each one had something engraved on it, a character of some sort. It resembled something from a nightmare.

Giant chained harpoons shot out of the pirate ships and gripped onto the hull. They had the teeth of a number of beasts put into the chains. Attempting to pull the chains out could cause a lot of damage and walking on them was near impossible to do. More cannon shots were exchanged between the two as the pirates started running on the chains and boarding. Their nimble steps evaded the spiked chains easily and it took mere seconds for them to board the ship.

"Bwahahahaha, take everything you see! Plunder for the Skulldrop Pirates!" a voiced out from the cabin of one of the pirate ships.

At his command, the pirates whistled and screeched like madmen, brandishing their weapons.

"Prepare to defend the ship!" the captain yelled.

The sailors as well as any guards that their guests had hired to accompany them on their journey went face to face with the pirates. Metal clashed against each other as they fought for their lives.

It was a chaotic battle. Broken pieces from the ships splintered off as the cracks of cannons sounded off continuously. Some were killed by a cannon shot, others were pushed off the ledge and fell to their deaths. The Blue Skies Caravan stopped using the Thunder Cannons as the pirates were too close to them, using those cannons would risk injuring themselves.

Among them, Ming Yue and Li Gang joined the fight. Hei Yue and Xiao Yin helped the others, scratching and biting the pirates. They could not kill them but their actions had greatly decreased the pressure that the sailors faced. But there was no end to the pirates, a total of six pirate ships had come and over two hundred pirates boarded. There were probably another couple hundred waiting to replace their brothers. Against a force that large, Ming Yue's group of less than one hundred did not seem hopeful for victory.

No one had expected to be attacked by pirates of such a caliber, nonetheless they managed to fend off the Skulldrop Pirates. Of everyone there, Li Gang seemed to be the most eye-catching, his great sword cleaved through a four bodies at one point. He swung with enough power to even deflect a cannonball, something that had a force of several hundred pounds. He yelled with each swing and starting using techniques to deal with them. Swords that were left on the ground by the dead bodies floated towards him before forming an even larger sword, one that was slightly bigger than his great sword. Merged, it began sweeping the ground, destroying anything in its way.

A dao of metal! This must have been Li Gang's dao. The dao of metal was versatile, it could become anything and at the same time be firm and unbending. Weapons, armor, trinkets, toys, all of these things could be made of metal but to try and destroy it would be difficult.

Ming Yue dealt with her opponents quickly and efficiently, moving on every time she killed. However, there must be a better way to deal with this. Then she looked at the chains that the pirates launched out.

"You failures! Can't even take over one ship?" emerging from the cabins of the pirate ships were the captains.

All six of them were slightly different from the others but it was safe to say that they were six brothers.

"As the Six Dagger Fleet of the Skulldrop Pirates, we cannot fail our reputation as one of the most fearsome pirates of the sky!" one of them growled.

All of them unsheathed their weapons, most of them had sabers but one used a sword and the other used a halberd. Each weappn was decorated in a different way, the skull of different animals were etched on the handles.

To their surprise, they did not have a chance to join their brothers for the chains they used to take ahold of the ship's hull fell one by one. The pirates who were still fighting noticed the chains and tried to grab onto them and rejoin their crew. Some managed to make it but others were not so lucky either falling to their deaths or stuck on the Blue Skies Ship. The ship itself flew off as fast as possible, away from the Skulldrop Pirates. Released from their grasp they escaped quickly.

"What? What happened?" one of the brothers spoke incredulously.

These chains were not top quality items but they were definitely not flimsy. Made from True Steel, a stronger variant of steel, it was a material that could not be broken so easily. Yet, the chains were cut off cleanly.

But for Ming Yue, it was not impossible. Parting Sun is a divine ranked sword, it might not have a core but its sharpness was among the best. Cutting these chains were not very difficult but required precise control and a fair amount of strength. Any other sword cultivator would leave a sizable dent but to cut it off cleanly was a different story.

Li Gang saw her performance and was surprised. He did not think that she would just simply cut the chains off or even be able to cut them off. He re-evaluated her in his mind, at first he thought that she was a normal cultivator but her skills said otherwise. The same could be said for himself, his performance was quite enlightening for Ming Yue, who had thought that he would not be much of a help.

The Blue Skies Crew shouted with joy as they chased off the remaining pirates, tying them up and leaving them on the deck.

The pirate ships chased after them but could not catch up, the cannonballs that were meant to slow the ship down were dealt with quickly. The crew removed them and reused them, shooting back at the pirates.. This little barrage was enough to deter them.