Maiden Of The Splitting Moon

2Hearing his answer, Niu Hong couldn't help but furrow his brows and repeat what he just heard.      3

"A fish?"      

Ao Qin nodded and looked at the ground.      

"A koi fish to be exact, a golden koi fish. It goes by the name of 'Aureate Koi' and it is much more difficult than the Tortoise or the Goose. At least, that is what Lao Yang said."     

She Xing narrowed her eyes as she listened.      

"But... it's a fish? How is that worse than the Devouring Goose or the Earthbound Tortoise."     

The dragon-kin looked at her and sighed, pointing at the beast's body.     

"And this is just a tortoise", he snapped back before explaining.      

"The Aureate Koi is more than just a fish. Just like how the Devouring Goose isn't just some goose or the Earthbound Tortoise is no ordinary tortoise. The Aureate Koi is a very large koi fish that supposedly swims in the rivers and ponds of the continent. Among the three, it is the hardest to find", he said.      

"Can you imagine, all of the rivers, ponds, and lakes are connected to one another, and the Koi could be anywhere. It is swift and thrives in the water. It is much smaller than the other two but the reward is even greater. Consuming its flesh will allow you to fully achieve the seven stages of reverting! Returning to our true form would be a simple task to do with that flesh."     

Hearing that, the Four Claws quickly understood the value of the final Beast God. And Ao Qin had more to say.     

"Though, with the Aureate Koi, the tribes may try to fight for it. With the Goose and the Tortoise, there is plenty to go around but the koi is smaller. It is still quite big but only enough to feed a dozen of us while the other two Beast Gods can feed thousands."      

"But that's so little. What will we do if we capture it?" Qiang Rong asked.      

The dragon-kin merely looked at them before answering,     

"Finding and capturing it is harder said than done but if that happens, I don't really know what will come after. We would have to wait for the elders to decide."     

He paused for a moment before continuing to voice his other concerns.      

"I can't even begin to think about the Teleportation Arrays. The other three locations that Lao Yang pointed to are just as difficult as the White Sword's Remains. I don't know if we'll be able to obtain the other ones."     

Hearing that the Four Claws were quiet but shifted their eyes between one another. It was enough for Ao Qin to notice though they weren't exactly hiding it from him.      

"What? What is it?" he asked.      

Sharing another look, Niu Hong stepped forward, clearing his throat.     

"Do you remember when we went to the White Sword's Remains? When it suddenly collapsed upon itself and the Dragon of Swords was seemingly destroyed?" he asked.      

"Of course, why wouldn't I remember? But why are you bringing it up?"      

Ao Qin nodded and showed a strange look on his face.      

"We... think that we know why it collapsed or rather, who caused it to collapse", said She Xing.      

"What do yo- Oh..."     

It didn't take him more than three words before realizing what they all meant. He clicked his tongue before massaging his forehead.      

"It's the human girl, is it?" he said.      

The four nodded.      

"Hm, that makes sense. We don't necessarily know how strong she is. Even I'd rather not have her sword pointed at me", Ao Qin muttered.      

He looked at Niu Hong before glancing at the others behind him.      

"So do you think that she has one of the keys to the teleportation array?" he asked.      

The leader of the Four Claws nodded.      

"Yes, we don't know for sure. Maybe she has it or it was destroyed in the fight between her and the Dragon of Swords."     

"Hmm, Lao Yang did say that he noticed a few parts of the white swords he put together had a few nicks and cuts. There were signs of wear for sure, some older and some seemed fresh", Ao Qin revealed.      

But then, he straightened himself up, fully turning to look back at the Earthbound Tortoise.      

"In any case, we should keep contact with her. In the best case, she could be a valuable ally but in the worst case... she could be an enemy we don't want to face", he warned.      

Ao Qin jumped away, leaving the others to themselves.      

The Four Claws were quiet for a few moments before going back to cracking the tortoise's shell. You could hear nothing but the clanging of their weapons chipping away at the shell.      

Yu Tu then asked the others.      

"You don't think that we'll have to fight her right?"      

"I don't know, I hope not."     

She Xing replied with a slightly worried tone. Even more so, she gave the rabbit-kin a rather doubtful look.      

"Even Ming Yue wrote that she didn't know whether she can trust the others. I'm sure there are a few tribes that we all don't quite trust", she continued.      

"That's... true."     

Qiang Rong then cut into the conversation, waving his staff at them.      

"If anything, when the owl comes back, we should tell her which tribes to look out for. I mean like the Naga Tribe is one of them for sure but the Huxian and Ruishi Tribes. We all know that among all of them, those two are easily the most dangerous. Ruishi Lei doesn't seem bad but his father? Always looking for opportunities, trying to take advantage of any situation. And Huxian Qie, it's not hard to see that they're all sly foxes, forming secret alliances for the sake of the Huxian Tribe. There are a few others but these two are always vying for control of the main city and the influence within the council", he said.      

"When did you start taking an interest in politics?"     

She Xing looked at him, rolling her eyes at the mention of her tribe, the Naga, but agreeing nonetheless.      

"Still, if we're going to try to be in good relation to her, we have to tell her who to watch out for at least. There's no doubt that they might all try to monopolize her for their gain", said the snake-kin.      

She then looked at Niu Hong, who continued to swing away with his axe.      

"What do you think?" she asked him.      

He didn't stop to look and continued on the tortoise, answering while doing so.      

"I don't know what will happen but I doubt she'll let anyone take advantage of her. Now let's stop talking about this and get back to the tortoise shell. Nothing will come from speculation, we can only act as we see fit. Now let's go back to this. The more we focus on cracking this shell, the faster we get to go back home", he responded.      

Everyone else looked at him before glancing at the giant beast. Standing right in front of it, they were small, so incredibly small. The Earthbound Tortoise was the size of a mountain and they were just one of the several hundred standing around it.      

Looking at their effort in the past few hours, all of them left nothing more than a cut about a few centimeters deep and a meter long. She Xing, Qiang Rong, and Yu Tu all had the same thought.      

"Ah, I really don't want to."     

Back within the city of the beast-kin, within the main hall of the Ruishi Tribe, Ruishi Lei stood before his father who was seated behind his desk.      

"So, first you tell me that you want to head North but now you don't. You were so adamant and because of this 'Phantom', you're avoiding it."     

Ruishi Wang looked at his son, showing a rather dubious face. It was obvious that he knew something was wrong.