Maiden Of The Splitting Moon

Staring at it, she saw the leopard in its entirety. It did resemble that of a leopard but it was larger than a normal one. Certainly not the size of the Amaranthine Lion but it did not lose in power, especially in its second form. 

But Ming Yue heard the cracks of bones, preparing herself for this clash. 

The Cloud Leopard had black and gold fur with small tufts of white around its ankles which had turned grayish. It was as if it ran on clouds. Its silvery eyes turned to a darker hue as it glared at the cultivator. Apart from that were its three tails, moving around in different directions as if they all had a mind of their own. 

The leopard sharpened its gaze at her before moving. Launching itself forward, it produced a small bang as it kicked off, raising its paw to striker her down. With its explosive speed, it nearly caught Ming Yue by surprise. 

She raised her sword up and blocked the strike. 

"Agh." 

As the strike came down and met Blood Moon, Ming Yue was blown back by the power. flying several meters before landing on her feet. 

She checked her sword for cracks and found nothing but her arms trembled quite a bit.

"Do you still think that we can kill this thing?" she asked Xue Yue. 

It wasn't just the force of the leopard's arm but its whole body propelling forward, any other person could have been blown to bits. 

Despite that, Xue Yue was firm on her answer. 

"It is better to kill it now than later." 

Ming Yue sighed and looked at the transformed leopard. 

"Let's just make it quick. Pale Moon." 

Releasing all of her power, the pale blue aura wafted out of her body before slowly condensing, leaving a ghostly blue glow within her veins and expanding it into Blood Moon. 

The reddish glow of its blade was replaced by a cerulean one. 

The Cloud Leopard eyed her, noticing the shift in her power. It snarled, taking several steps back before kicking the air behind with its back legs, repeating the same move from before. However, Ming Yue vanished from her position, moving even quicker than the beast and landing right on its back. 

She stabbed down, looking to pierce the leopard right through the neck.

"Wha-!"

As soon as she went plunged the blade down, the beast shook its body before kicking off explosively. A burst of air rocked her off its body as it leaped forward and spun to face her. It bared its fangs and kept its distance, fully knowing that she was no easy target. 

"Hah, damn it, this is going to be troublesome", Ming Yue muttered. 

Snarling at her, the leopard attacked swinging its paw out and creating a burst of wind. It was a quick and explosive attack, one that missed Ming Yue and ruptured the tree trunk behind her. She glanced at it, seeing the tree splinter into hundreds of pieces. 

The beast didn't stop there, kicking off and sending out more bursts of winds with its paws. 

Ming Yue dodged to the side before sprinting forward.

The leopard roared out at her to which she jumped up and launched a wind lance right into its mouth. The next moment, it closed its jaws, knowing it had swallowed something but not knowing what it was.

There was just a look of surprise in its eyes as the beast did not expect something like this to happen, In the next moment, the attack exploded from within, causing the beast to choke on the air and Ming Yue spared no time to strike. 

She ran underneath the leopard, thrusting up and stabbing the beast's neck, running the blade up until the neck was cleanly cut. Pulling her sword away, she jumped back, standing in front of the leopard.

The leopard stood still, staring at her and feeling not even a thing. And then the head fell to the ground with a thud while the body was still upright. But that soon changed as the leopard's body collapsed to the ground. 

Ming Yue looked at the scene before deactivating Pale Moon and releasing a sigh of relief. 

"There, finished."

She walked forward, retrieving the body and moving it into her spatial ring. 

"Told you, it'd be easier to fight alone", said Xue Yue. 

She sounded proud that she was right and Ming Yue didn't argue with it. 

"In any case, we're done here, let's go back and meet with the others."

After speaking, Ming Yue left the area, moving to meet with the Four Claws at that clearing. She whistled out before seeing Xiao Yin's small body flying up high for her to see. 

"There they are." 

She quickly moved, joining up with the others in a matter of minutes. Emerged from the brush and trees, the young woman saw them standing there with their weapons drawn, alerted by the noise she made. 

But after seeing that it was her, they lowered their weapons. The little girl ran off to her, charging and going straight to hugging her. 

Ming Yue looked down in sur[rise, taken aback by the gesture. However. he knelt down and grabbed the girl, carrying her with both arms, letting the girl's head rest on her shoulders. Hei Yue quickly followed, circling around Ming Yue's legs and nuzzling against her. And Xiao Yin landed on her other shoulder, chirping as she looked at Ming Yue. 

Sharing a moment together, Ming Yue walked forward and stood before the Four Claws who looked at her curiously. 

"So what happened to the Cloud Leopard? You drove it off?" Niu Hong asked. 

"You definitely fought it, that's for sure." 

She Xing looked at her, spotting the specks of blood on her armor. 

But Ming Yue shook her head. 

"No, I killed it. Its body is in my spatial ring", she answered. 

"Yo- you killed it? A Cloud Leopard?!" they all exclaimed. 

She nodded before voicing her confusion. 

"It was decently strong, I thought that it was a Savage Beast but then it transformed. I don't understand how that can be considered a normal beast here", she said. 

Niu Hong looked at her and spoke only to stop himself. 

"That's- nevermind, I will tell you when we get back to safety but for now, let's just get out of here."

Everyone agreed at this point, this was enough excitement for all of them. And so, they left the clearing, heading back and out of the Savage Lands. Back there, they could check what they've acquired and decide on their next move. 

Meanwhile, there was a figure standing in the middle of where Ming Yue and the Cloud Leopard fought. Another beastman, who knelt down and touched the puddles of blood left by the leopard. 

"Hmm, still fresh but whoever fought it hid their tracks", He  muttered. 

Standing up, he looked back at the massive battle involving the Amaranthine Lion, it still raged on, growing more and more violent with each second. He moved, climbing up one of the trees and standing on top of it, watching the fight while pondering. 

"To think this all happened from those ruins, the expedition team really outdid themselves this time. Kicking up a storm." 

He chuckled while staring at the fight. 

And then several other figures appeared from thin air, standing by him. 

"Ah, so you all want to join this fight as well, huh?" he asked. 

"Why, else?" 

"After hearing such noise, I couldn't just ignore this."

"So many beasts, just ripe for the taking."

"That one's mine, it's the most compatible with me."

They all answered differently but the intent was the same. They were looking to hunt.

"Yeah, yeah, go and hunt. I'm going to wait a bit", he responded.

"What? getting too old?" one of them said. 

But this individual chuckled before looking away. 

"No, just curious about who would be strong enough to kill a Cloud Leopard by themselves."

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