A Cursed Land
A Cursed Land
He then pointed at the bodies and the surrounding areas.
"Thus, as long as we make the bodies disappear and make it appear that they're were no traces of them. Things will only seem stranger. But then, if this place were to become known as a cursed land, it may attract evil cultivators more!"
Ming Yue furrowed her brows as she heard this.
"A cursed land? As opposed to the Holy Land?" she asked.
Ying Yi nodded.
"A cursed land is to an evil cultivator as a holy land is to a righteous one. It would be the perfect environment for them to cultivate in. And of course, we have the pieces to make this seem possible", he explained.
Ming Yue was quiet as she thought this through. There wasn't really a negative downside to it. After all, who would want to enter a cursed land except for evil cultivators? Not only could this attract the remaining members of the Fourteen Evils but maybe even those that are in hiding or closed-door cultivation.
It would be enticing to them.
"Alright then, you can do with the bodies as you'd like. I just want to collect their tokens if possible."
Ying Yi nodded.
"Please, do as you wish."
The look on his face was one of respect. No doubt in his eyes, she was worthy of that respect and it never changed even after she left.
"The Fairy of the Moon, to think that she'd return in such a fashion", he muttered to himself, "I wonder if there is anyone in her own generation that could challenge her."
Suddenly, he heard some groans, turning around to see his men waking up.
"Ugh, what happened?" one of them asked, clutching the back of their head.
Another grasped his neck, rubbing the spot where they had been knocked out.
"Did we... did we die?"
As they took notice of their surroundings, all of them saw Ying Yi standing there, surrounded by the corpses of the Three Bloody Stars. It took a moment but then their eyes widened in an instant.
"Leader, yo- you killed them all?
All of them saw this and then Ying Yi looked down, realizing the scene that he was currently a part of. But he didn't reveal anything instead, he feigned ignorance.
"No, it wasn't me. I couldn't do anything to the Three Bloody Stars and I don't quite know what exactly happened but I have an idea of what could be going on here", he said to them.
"What?" his men asked.
They were curious and none of them seemed to think that he was hiding or even lying to them. That might've been proof as to how much they trusted him.
"It could be a cursed land."
And while he slowly planted the seeds of this plan, Ming Yue soon returned just as the sun was beginning to rise. Gently landing in the courtyard of the tea shop, she looked at the red tokens.
"Yan Hong, Shu Li, and Kui She."
Reading the names to herself, Ming Yue flipped the tokens around before putting it back.
"Seems like you came back successfully."
The young cultivator looked up to see Elder Xiang standing there, holding his sheathed sword like a cane. As they locked eyes, she nodded before approaching the Sword Elder.
"Hah, to think that a week would go buy so fast", he muttered.
There was a wistful look on his face as he sat down on the steps leading to the back of the tea shop.
"It hasn't been very long, just a few years since you were brought to Heaven's Gate. There is still so much that you haven't seen", he said to her.
"I know that much has changed", she replied.
Elder Xiang chuckled before looking out into the night sky. The glow of the rising sun was just barely peeking out from the horizon.
"We've spent these past few days sparring. The improvement from the first day to now is noticeable since you've gotten used to the Sky Realm at this point. And that girl who calls you her older sister, her talent is pretty decent."
"Thank you, Rou'er and I could not have done it without the help of you and both Elder Shen and Elder Hua."
"Heh, that's true."
The Sword Elder was quiet after that and then he looked at her. His eyes lingered on her before he finally said something.
"You... you still haven't shown me everything", he said.
His words came out calmly and bluntly as Ming Yue's eyes widened just a tad.
"How did you know?" she asked.
In the face of this question, Elder Xiang merely chuckled.
"When you talked about finding the Black Blade and even showed it to me, I could see that it had been awakened and used before. Not to mention, when you have not one but two weapon spirits, it is practically impossible to not want to use one if not both of them", he answered.
There was a mischievous grin on his face when he looked at her.
"Nothing can go past my eyes, especially when it comes to the sword."
There was a hapless smile on Ming Yue's face as she stared down at Blood Moon, holding the sword in her hands.
"Now then, I'm sure you have something to show me, don't you?"
That grin of his grew as Ming Yue stood up and walked back to the middle of the courtyard. He was excited after all, excited to see what this student of his had concocted on her own time.
Taking out the Black Blade, she unsheathed both swords and took a stance. With Blood Moon in her dominant, right hand and the Black Blade was in the grasp of her left hand, she stood upright.
As the former was held forward, pointed down at the ground, the latter was held in a reverse grip, hidden behind her back.
Slowly breathing in and out, Ming Yue glanced at her teacher before focusing on herself. It was quiet and she waited until everything seemed absolutely still.
"The Lunar Storm Sword Art."
It was then that she began to move. It started out slow before getting quicker and quicker as the two swords twirled about. She wasn't incredibly fast but each move had grace and control in them. Simply said, it was a dance, a sword dance. One that could captivate and surprise her enemies and allies alike.
Blood Moon was nearly a blur, flickering with light but then her body twisted and turned as her other arm whipped out! The Black Blade suddenly appeared, a wave of darkness within the dazzling light that her other sword manifested. The former set the tempo while the latter disrupts it.
Certainly, a beautiful sight to see.
It was only for a few minutes but when it was done, Ming Yue had a tired look on her face.
"That was the Lunar Storm Sword Art or at least, the basis of it."
She looked at her teacher while introducing this sword art of hers but his expression was somewhat blank. There wasn't any definite emotion on Elder Xiang's face, perhaps a bit of shock or he was in awe of it.
But then his eyes suddenly blinked as he seemed to have awakened from his dazed state.
"That was... interesting."