Maiden Of The Splitting Moon

Ruishi Wang's eyes widened as he suddenly straightened up on his seat, looking on with interest.      

"One of the keys has been recovered?" he asked.      

The attendant nodded and continued the report.      

"Yes, the news has already reached the ears of the other elders and a gathering has been called for. They will be deciding what to do now because of this development."     

Ruishi Wang listened on before thinking, resting his chin on his hands. Moments later, he got out of his chair and walked out.      

"Let's go then. I'm sure that there's going to be a lot of commotion."     

The night was nearing its end and the sun's light was barely peeking out of the horizon. What seemed like a quiet dawn was only a mix of voices arguing amongst each other within the halls of the Beast Council.      

Within the well-lit hall, many of them voiced their arguments and none of them were backing down.      

"We can forget about the Aureate Koi and the North! Isn't it best if we forgo those two for the other continents?!"     

"What? So you can just wage war on them?! What will you do if they end up overpowering us? Do you want to doom all the tribes on this wager?!"     

"Fine, we don't have to aim for war but there is only one key at the moment. According to Lao Yang, the arrays to the East will connect us to the humans and the ones to the West will bring us to the demons. Which do you want?" one of the elders asked.      

"Humans, of course! They're shrewd but understanding, I'm sure that they'll want to join in arms with us!"     

"But what about demons? We share much more in common with them, do we not?"      

"Why does any of this even matter? We don't have to bother with this! Just choose the humans and reconnect first! We can think about wars and alliances later."     

"So are we all in agreement then? We can give up on the North and the Aureate Koi for now."     

As a consensus was made, someone suddenly spoke up, the elder of the Huxian Tribe, Huxian Qie.      

"Why don't we just send our full force into the North? Better yet, if we were to reconnect with the humans, we could just enlist their help instead. We don't have to talk about the Aureate Koi but we could mention the Phantom instead", she said.      

Everyone looked at her and nodded.      

It was a clever idea, one only a fox-kin like her could think of.      

"Yes, that works, that works very well."     

They agreed with one another, muttering quietly as she glanced over at Ruishi Wang, who sat there in silence. There was a frown on her face, she felt that something was amiss.      

"Strange, why has he not said anything during this?" she thought.      

But she didn't have to wonder as another elder looked at him and rose his hand, calling for attention.      

"What is it, Bai Weishi?"     

The one who rose his hand was a tiger-kin, chief of the Byakko Tribe, and Bai Sheng's father, Bai Weishi. His body was on the larger side. His human-like features contrasted between his white hair and his furry forearms. There was a fierce look on his face and his eyes resembled that of a tiger's.      

Grabbing everyone's attention, he stood up, gazing at everyone before finally looking at Ruishi Wang.      

"I had heard from some of my kin that they saw one of yours limping through the streets. Even more surprising was the state they saw him in. He was covered in bandages and limped on one leg", he said.      

The lion-kin raised an eye, looking at him.      

"What does that matter?" he asked.      

"They heard some interesting things from him. To be fair, he was in a horrible state, nearly crazed, as my kin had described it. However, he kept muttering things about the North, warnings to never enter", Bai Weishi explained.      

When he said it, the others all glanced at one another, whispering and chatting.      

"What? That's different from our reports. The scouts retreated because of the warning."     

"Perhaps his scouts ignored it and continued on, incurring the wrath of the Phantom. Hah, to think they'd do something stupid like that."     

Ruishi Wang heard the whispering and muttering, feeling a bit of embarrassment from it. But he cleared his throat and stood up.      

"Indeed, that is what happened. That warrior was the only one to have survived the ordeal and returned to me with a report on it. After that, I had second thoughts about it, venturing into the North. But what should that matter? No matter how dangerous it is, we have all agreed that it cannot go ignored."     

The chief of the Byakko Tribe narrowed his eyes and looked at him.      

"That is true, I felt that there was a need to tell everyone as you had agreed not to make a move against the Phantom but it seems that you were not telling the truth."     

But the lion-kin retorted quickly.      

"Even if I say that, I'm sure that I'd be allowed to go back on these words. My son was targeted and attacked, there's only so much patience that I can have. And what about now? Am I not agreeing that we should move strike at the North? What more do you want from me?"      

Bai Weishi's eyes lingered on him before finally turning away. Moments later, he sat back down and crossed his arms.      

"Nothing else, I just wanted to clarify a few things."      

"Hmph, is there anything else that needs to be clarified? Do any of you have any other questions?"      

Ruishi Wang looked around the hall, gazing at everyone and none of them met the gaze. The hall was silent until someone finally spoke up.      

"In any case, we have all agreed on our next course of action? Reconnect with the other continents and join forces to reclaim the North for ourselves?"      

"Yes."     

"Aye."     

"I agree."     

"Yeah."      

Everyone showed their approval before that elder ended the meeting and everyone departed. News of this soon spread to the ears of the other tribes, including those of the Zodiacs. Everyone learned of the news, a key was found and the Council has agreed to reconnect with the Human Continent.      

This was monumental news.      

For some, it was a cause for excitement, and for others, there was apprehension. After all, thousands of years had passed since the Calamity had occurred. The three continents were broken apart and now they were going to reconnect with one of them.      

Of course, this piece of information reached Ming Yue. Just weeks after catching and eating the Aureate Koi, she received this message from the Four Claws.     

"They've found a key... so they're going to connect to the Human Continent first in order to take the North and take me on."     

Reading it gave her mixed feelings about what to do next.      

"They're not going to go to war with them at least but what should I do? Should I wait for them to activate it and escape or not? Or perhaps I could make the move first and activate it", she wondered.      

Thinking carefully, Ming Yue looked toward the house and the garden she had made. Hongyu was standing around the garden, carrying a basket on her back and plucking away at the ripened fruits and vegetables.      

The little girl seemed quite happy, dutifully looking through the garden and the orchard.      

Watching her put a smile on Ming Yue's face and when she looked back at the letter, she had made a decision. When it came to Hongyu, she felt as if there was no other choice.      

"I've been putting it off long enough, I should wait for them to activate the Teleportation Array and escape with everyone", she muttered.      

"We'll be heading home."