Maiden Of The Splitting Moon

They glanced at him before snorting, 

"Whatever, there haven\'t been many chances to join something like this."

One by one they left the tree, approaching the beast\'s battle. It was just that last individual, calmly watching and thinking. He rubbed his chin, still pondering over what had happened to the Cloud Leopard. 

During this, the others had long joined the fray against the beasts, happily fighting away. Perhaps it seemed better that those beasts were already injured but beasts are beasts. The more dire their situation, the more savage they will become, especially if they feel cornered. 

Soon enough it slowly moved into a stalemate. 

But after a while, the last beastman stood up and stretched. 

"Whatever the case, I can just question the expedition team later. Let\'s just finish this up and deal with them." 

There was a smile on his face before baring his fangs and claws, leaving his spot to fight. 

Whilst this was underway, Ming Yue\'s group soon arrived at the clearing of the Halcyon Meadows, away from danger. They were all tired and weary, having just walked without rest. The little girl was asleep, resting her head on the young woman\'s shoulder. 

Quietly, she entered the house, placing the little girl in bed before walking out. 

"Both of you keep her company." 

Instructing the two beasts, they moved into the house to watch over the sleeping child.

The Four Claws had already put down their things, sitting on the grass and taking some time to relax. Ming Yue sat beside them, placing her sheathed blade on the ground. 

"Now that the ruins are destroyed, what do you plan to do now?" she asked. 

The Four Claws gave each other looks before looking at Niu Hong, who answered. 

"For now, we rest and recuperate. Take note of what we obtained from those ruins. Of course, we will be leaving the human girl with you. Bringing her back would send waves among the tribes that could be good or very bad."

"I see. Are humans hated among some tribes?" she asked. 

The ox-kin nodded with a serious expression. 

"For the most part, there are tribes who would be delighted to meet a human girl and those who would stop at nothing to kill them. The same goes for demons. Although thousands of years have passed, some things aren\'t forgotten", he said. 

"Then for you all?" 

Ming Yue looked at them blankly as she posed this question. An inquiry that Qiang Rong answered first and with a light smile. 

"The Wukong Clan has always been in good relation with Humans, then again we\'re not ones to make enemies."

"The same goes for the Gozu Tribe, we find humans to be quick-witted and strange but nonetheless friendly", said Niu Hong.

Yu Tu looked at them both before gazing at Ming Yue. 

"For my tribe, we are told to be wary of humans. There have been cases of humans searching for us to wed or worse."

"That\'s..."

Ming Yue was slightly taken aback, not expecting that answer but understanding that it was very possible. There was no limit to the arrogant and foolish, she knew just how vile some people can be. 

And finally, she looked at She Xing, who reluctantly answered. 

"My tribe, the Naga, while we are not hateful of humans, we are taught to never trust one."

"I see."

Hearing this, Ming Yue understood She Xing\'s distrust towards her. While the snake-kin wasn\'t hostile towards her, she certainly wasn\'t friendly. 

There was an awkward silence between them all before Niu Hong suddenly spoke up. 

"If you\'re still wondering, most of these sentiments are found among the older elders. Even then, they\'re nothing like what they used to be before the calamity. After all, it\'s been several thousand years since humans and demons have come. It\'s just stories and legends now."

Ming Yue looked at him. 

"If that\'s the case, I may come out and explore", she replied. 

Qiang Rong then looked at her with a bit of curious anticipation. 

"Since we\'re talking about this, is there anything you can tell us about the humans and demons now?" he asked her. 

"Anything? What would you like to know about?" 

"Hmm, I\'m not sure, how about your travels? Any stories that you might have to share?"

Hearing Qiang Rong\'s question, Ming Yue thought carefully. What stories did she have to share with them?

"I\'m still quite young and I haven\'t explored as much as I\'d like to but there are a few things I could talk about", she muttered.

From there, Ming Yue spoke about the adventures she had, large or small. Whether it was taking missions in her home country, the various tournaments, even fighting the leader of the Tao Feng. And then at the end of it all, she spoke about the war between the demons and humans. 

This was the story that the Four Claws had no words to respond with. 

It was grand, shocking, and unbelievable. Hearing about a great war on a scale of millions of soldiers, learning that the Demon Continent was left in a terrible state after the calamity, there were many things that the beast people were not expecting to hear. 

And among other things, learning of Ming Yue\'s achievements only cemented their idea that she was no ordinary person. 

"You\'ve ridden dragons and fought with them? You met a creature that called itself the World Serpent?!"

"Fighting a being closest to that of a god..."

Suddenly, they looked at her as someone to respect and fear. How many others could have the same experiences as her at such a young age?

"Ha! And here I thought we had some incredible stories to tell."

Niu Hong gave a hapless smile as he was thought back to his own journey. 

"I\'d like to hear about them if that is possible", said Ming Yue. 

While the Four Claws felt that their experiences weren\'t comparable, the young woman didn\'t care about that. She was curious, wanting to know more and to learn more. 

"Are you sure?" the ox-kin asked, "I feel as though we would bore you with our little tales."

"No, please. I\'d like to know more about this place."

Doubling down, the Four Claws relented and began to talk. 

"Before we first formed the Four Claws, we were all in different groups but one by one, they disbanded for one reason or another. It just so happened that they all disbanded at around the same time. One thing led to another and so we formed our own group which at first, was quite rough. None of us knew each other at the time", said Niu Hong. 

"Right, I remember, She Xing and Yu Tu were hard to work with. One was sharp-tongued and unfriendly while the other was shy and afraid to talk, imagine trying to work with that!"

Qiang Rong added while sheepishly pointing at the pair, both of which couldn\'t stop themselves from glaring at him. Even Yu Tu gave him a mean look. 

"Yeah, maybe it would\'ve been better if a certain monkey didn\'t try to get us all killed in the first expedition."

She Xing\'s eyes were especially sharp, probably piercing enough to go through any stone. And when she said that, Qiang Rong immediately hunched over, scratching the back of his head. 

"I mean we\'re all alive and kicking right now!" he replied. 

"You damne-"

Before this escalated any further, Niu Hong continued to talk a bit more. 

"Anyways, in the beginning, we weren\'t the most cohesive or the best expedition team. We\'ve had our fair share of near-deaths and defeats. Chances were, the Four Claws would\'ve been disbanded long ago.. But that changed when we entered a specific set of ruins, known as the White Sword\'s Remains."