Maiden Of The Splitting Moon

"Name it?" Ming Yue said.

She had to rename the weapon.

"Of course, to reforge a blade is to breathe life into it. Giving it a new life also means giving it a new name", Lord Qin said.

"Don\'t worry, I won\'t rush you. Giving a weapon their name requires a fair bit of thinking. Now then, since I opened this up, I should probably work on some other projects."

He quickly ran off, picking up an unfinished chest plate. It was designed quite strangely, the front had an engraving of the words "Stupid" on it for some reason*. There were a number of questionable spikes on the back as well.

Ming Yue watched him set off before looking back to her new sword. It was shorter by an inch or so, a width of three fingers, and a thickness of 9 millimeters. The weight had stayed the same at around five pounds.

The handle was quite nice, made from a block of dark stained wood and the center was wrapped with thin silver rope. On its own, the handle was seven inches long but not very thick, maybe an inch or so in diameter. The sword guard was small and thin. Made of the same materials as the blade, it had a bright silvery color and the top and bottom had simple engravings on them. The pommel was a simple one-inch-long cap of the same color as the guard.

The scabbard was truly special. Created from the same wood as the handle, it was somewhat flexible but durable. Shallow carvings of mountains and clouds covered it and a moon and sun took on both ends of the scabbard. The sun at the top and the moon at the bottom.

Holding the unsheathed blade in her hand, she gave it several swings to test it. The sensation she had when she swung was different. The balance of the sword was done differently and it seemed to glide through the air, so much sharper than before.

"That is why I had you feed it your blood and energy", Lord Qin said, his back facing towards her as he continued to hammer down random spikes of the chest plate.

"During the molding phase, the energy that you gave it was fully activated by your blood. With the help of the heat from the stone bed, it will integrate with the sword and imbued it with certain properties, therefore changing the internal structure. The whole thing with gems is modern technique, this is the ancient stuff."

"So now, It is much easier to swing it and feels much sharper as it now has the element of wind within it. Whenever you use techniques, it will be much easier to execute them."

She stared at the sword in wonder and began testing outside of the forge.

What he said was true!

It took her much less effort to execute something like Savage Tempest, it was even stronger than before. After a bit more testing, she went back to naming it. What would she name it? A mix between Splitting Moon and Parting Sun? Something completely different?

She knew she wanted to keep it similar to their names, something simple.

At this time, she heard someone call out.

"Is the Forgelord here?" A small figure ran through before stopping in front of Ming Yue.

Wearing trousers and wielding a black bow in her hands, Xuan Yin had arrived.

"Ming Yue? What are you doing here?" she said.

She looked back and showed her the sword.

"I\'\'m getting a new sword."

"I see, I\'m also getting a new bow."

Neither really knew what to say. After Maple Root City, the both of them split up in silence. Xuan Yin wanted to go back to get stronger. After a month or two of no contact, neither could really do anything to break the awkward silence.

"Oh girl! You\'re back again! Did you get what I asked for?" Lord Qin came out of the forge with the chestplate still in his hands.

"Ah, it seems like the both of you know each other. Come on girl, give me you bow and the things I asked for! After that, go spend time talking with that other lass!"

Xuan Yin gave him her black bow and a small bag. He retreated back into the forge, leaving the both of them alone.

After several minutes of silence, Xuan Yin was the first to speak.

"Have you been well?"

"Yes."

"Is your new sword good?"

"It is."

This was followed with a number of questions to which Ming Yue answered with a simple yes or now. It was quite hard to break the ice between them.

Lord Qin must have heard them because he yelled at them.

"Come on! You can do better than that! And I mean the both of you!"

With a little encouragement from him and a bit of time, speaking with each other was much easier.

Xuan Yin learned of the General Auction as well as Ming Yue\'s time in Rong Lu City.

"Damn, it happens every ten years? And I missed it? Agh!"

As for Xuan Yin, she had been spending more time training and traveling with her grandfather. She even visited Liqiu in Maple Root City twice to check up on her. She was no longer bedridden but was still weak. The three families had yet to make any moves, obviously still trying to recuperate from the incident.

Ming Yue was relieved to hear that she was feeling better. That much was enough to ease her mind.

"What are you doing right now?" Xuan Yin asked.

"I need to give this sword a name."

"Oh, have you thought of anything yet?"

"No, not really. It is a lot harder than it sounds. This is going to be my sword, it will be by my side to the end."

"How about something with the stars? There was Splitting Moon and Parting Sun, so maybe naming it after stars wouldn\'t be too bad. Or..or maybe combining both the moon and sun together?" Xuan Yin thought hard on making more suggestions.

Ming Yue smiled, happy that Xuan Yin still had the same energy as before. She thought about her suggestions before contemplating between different names. Something that felt natural to her. In an instant, it came to her.

The perfect name.

"So far, Kong Zhi has not yet made any moves."

"What? How strange, could he be planning something?"

Within the demon continent, things have been somewhat quiet. Not even the commanders nor the allied demons knew what to do. While there were skirmishes every now and then, it was not very chaotic. The human armies continued to retake the land, rescuing more demons and ridding the land of any ungodly creature.

In fact, these creatures were bigger headaches than Kong Zhi. He merely continued to travel the land, growing his power. He has made no moves against the humans, no declaration of war, he just traveled around.

"I suggest we fight it out!" a burly man wearing heavy armor spoke out. His fist balled up and his face was fierce. He had an eye-patch on his left eye and a scar running down his face.

"Commander Nie Xia, I know you and your Yan Fu army is raring to go out in battle but now is not the time. We still have too little information about Kong Zhi, this could very well be a trap."

"Indeed Commander Nie, It has only been a month or so since we arrived into the demon continent. Even though we\'ve been tracking Kong Zhi, we have only mapped out a fifth of the continent with all of our scouts combined. There is a chance that he may be looking for something."

"Hmph, I could say the same about him. We\'ve only been here for a month after all. I doubt Kong Zhi would know everything about us. We could take him by surprise."

At the head of the planning table, an old man in armor was deep in thought. With short hair and a small mustache, he seemed like a gentle old man but his large frame said otherwise. He was nothing but an experienced commander, a warrior of the highest degree.

"Commander Nie Xia", he said, "Exercise some restraint. If you\'re getting restless then go to the southern part here. According to some scouts, we have a small army from Kong Zhi trying to tame more beasts. Go stop their tracks."

Nie Xia had a look of excitement, "Then let us depart!"

Quickly he ran off to mobilize.

"Commander Zi Jing, Yu Zhen, It was a good attempt to try and pacify him. Commander Nie Xia is a man who acts more than he speaks. It would be better to have him move a bit."

Commander Zi Jing was a young man who wore white scholarly robes. He carried five white swords and seemed nothing like the commander of an army. He had a calm demeanor and a face that could charm many.

Commander Yu Zhen was a middle-aged woman who was dressed in a mix of leather armor and chainmail. At her side was a large saber wrapped in cloth. She had dark blue hair and a curvaceous but well-trained body. Her charisma was among the best and she is an idol to many in her kingdom.

"Then Commander Du Xiu, what do you suggest?"

"We can only move passively.. There is nothing else we can do."