Maiden Of The Splitting Moon

Dinner had already been served, a bowl of gruel that had a bit of meat and vegetables. It wasn\'t an amazing meal but it was good and filling.

A simple dish with only salt and pepper. 

Night watches were already formed as the craftsmen continued to work late into the night. Ming Yue walked around, greeting them as they came. As much as those children gave her peace, she couldn\'t help but think about her current situation. She sat down by the edge of the camp, watching the soldiers and crafters move. 

"I no longer had Drifting Sky until after a year. It could become a weapon spirit but I would have to have the strength to wield it. Meaning I should train harder, focus on my cultivation. Practicing the Sword Dao would be difficult... but I\'m nearly finished with "Return to Simplicity", next is "Realm of a Hundred Swords. Actually no, this works in my favor, doesn\'t it?" 

Thinking about it some more, she felt that not having her sword would be quite beneficial. Although she might not be able to complete her current stage, she could lay the foundations for the next one. After all, the next stage was no ordinary one. 

Soon enough, she made up her mind. 

"I will train and fight without Drifting Sky. A year will be long but it will prove to be fruitful."

Standing up, her two beasts raised their heads to look at her. 

"I\'m going outside you two, do you want to come?" 

Hearing her invitation, they responded with a yip and a chirp, staying close to her dutifully. The trio quietly meshed into the shadows as they left the camp and went out into the wild. 

The environment here was much different than anything she had encountered.

It was a marsh, there was water everywhere, covered by a veil of grass. There was little ground and even less of it was dry. It was slippery and if one\'s judgment was wrong, they would find themselves drowning in the water. The grass itself was thin and short, brownish in color, and fragile. There weren\'t many trees but those that she saw had a strange shape, resembling that of a mushroom. And above all else, there was an immense number of insects, ranging from the common annoyance to the lethal. 

Fortunately, Ming Yue had created a small field of lightning around them, practically zapping away constantly. 

They moved through the area nimbly, taking light steps on the grass so as to not fall into the waters. 

"I wonder if I can find one."

The young cultivator moved from tree to tree, scouring the ground for something. Fortunately, what she was looking for was not rare or difficult to find. She just had to look and soon, her eyes locked onto what she wanted. 

"There!" 

Moving forward, she bent down and grabbed a broken branch, one thin enough and long enough to compare to her sword. She wielded it just like Drifting Sky, attacking the air and spinning it in her hands. 

After several moves, she stopped and looked at the branch with satisfaction. 

"This should do."

As quickly as she left, she returned in the dead of the night and the night patrols saw her return. Walking up to her, they greeted the young cultivator.

"Fairy, welcome back."

She looked at them and blinked her eyes, confused by the name.

"Fairy?"

The guards looked at each other before one of them stepped forward. 

"That is your title, right? Ming Yue, the Fairy of the Moon?" they asked.

"Oh right, that..."

She remembered quickly about her embarrassing name before looking back to the guards. 

"I just went outside for something."

They looked at her before noticing the branch in her hands and pointing at it.

"You went out... for a branch?" they asked. 

"Oh yes, I need it for training. Please continue with your patrols, I\'ll be going now."

She moved along with her two pets and looking for a place to practice her swordsmanship. The patrol watched her go before looking at each other. They looked at her strangely but shrugged. 

"Must be some strange cultivation or something, having to use a stick."

"Maybe... still a stick? She could\'ve asked one of the craftsmen for a wooden sword or even borrow one of our spare ones."

"Don\'t bother questioning it, it\'s not like any of us are going to understand. Besides, someone like her doesn\'t have to explain to us."

They nodded at each other. 

To soldiers like them, they had no need to learn or know what she planned to do. If it made her stronger that was all that really mattered. Still, they couldn\'t help but wonder, why would she need a branch?

As they continued their patrol, Ming Yue couldn\'t find much empty space and so decided to practice on the lakeshore. Standing on the sand, Hei Yue and Xiao Ying stood to the side as they watched her wielding that stick. 

She looked at the branch and swung several times, getting used to the lightness and the fragility. Moments later, she stopped and began to recite the Sword Sage Path. While she no longer had the manual, she had long memorized it. 

"After Return to Simplicity is Realm of a Hundred Swords, to understand this stage is to know that everything can be used as a sword. The limbs of your body, leaves, grass, anything can be a sword if you will it to be, even a branch." 

Reciting the words in her mind, Ming Yue started to contemplate these words. 

"Anything can be a sword if I will it... What does this mean? If I will it... then I just use my energy, is that it?"

As she muttered those words, her Quintessence Energy began to circle through her body. Slowly and carefully, Ming Yue moved it into the branch one speck at a time. It shuddered and hummed as her strength flowed through it. 

And for a moment, it released a small aura. 

She smiled at this. 

"This doesn\'t seem too difficult", she thought.

But as soon as she said that, the energy suddenly escaped out of the branch, dispersing into motes of light.

"Wha- what?" 

Ming Yue opened her mouth wide with surprise.

"What happened? Why did it all scatter?"

She tried once more but failed as the energy she gathered went away. After several more attempts, Ming Yue stopped and put the branch down, going back to what the Sword Sage Path described of Realm of Hundred Swords.

"The purpose of this stage is to be able to make anything a sword, further one\'s understanding of the Sword Dao. You must be able to execute any attacks and techniques using anything. You must understand what makes a sword."

As the manual stated, Realm of a Hundred Swords is a stage in which it focuses on the essence of a sword. To be able to make anything a sword, that is the goal of this stage. But as far as Ming Yue knew, she was stumped with this. 

"What makes a sword?" she pondered this question. 

"It would be the materials? What it\'s made of? No, that can\'t be it. It\'s something else."

Unfortunately, the manual didn\'t contain the answers she was looking for. Everyone had to reach a conclusion of their own and the same applied to her. 

As it was late at night, Ming Yue continued to contemplate but to no success. And soon enough the sun rose for a new day had begun, she was still on the lake swinging the branch around. 

Even if they were just casual swings, there was an elegance to them, like flowing water. 

She was focused solely on the branch in her hands, not noticing a small crowd watching her, admiring her skills.. It was like a dance almost, one that was unpredictable but beautiful.