Maiden Of The Splitting Moon - Chapter 724: Hostage

It was certainly strange for someone as young as her to call him a “snot-nosed brat” but he certainly looked the part. His eyes were wide open and he really did have a bit of snot dripping out of one of his nostrils.

“Wait, wait, wait! I’m sure we can come to some sort of agreement right? What is it that you want? Is it money? I have plenty of it! I can even make you a platinum member of the Tang Trading Group! How about that? Surely whatever they’re paying you I can offer several times over!”

The man crawled backward as he pleaded for his life, trying to get away from her sword.

Ming Yue raised an eyebrow at him.

“He’s the one who hired the Muhou Troupe? I thought it’d be someone a bit more… something”, she thought.

Frankly, he seemed so pitiful that even she was at a loss for what to do.

“Just give me the ring”, she said to him, “That’s all I want from you.”

He just had a fearful look on his face.

“But… but I can’t! At least… not until I… do this!”

Backing himself against the carriage, Tang Bi Gan spun around and slapped his hand onto the side of the carriage. Blood Moon flickered as she moved forward to stop him but she was just a touch too late.

The Indomitable Chariot hummed to life, generating several barriers that pushed the young cultivator back. The glowing red blade in her head left merely a scratch on Tang Bi Gan’s hand as it was expelled by the barriers.

Ming Yue quickly recovered and stared at the barriers protecting him.

There was more than one of them, all of which were translucent with a whitish glow. As she studied it, the young master of the Tang Trading Group chuckled.

“Hah! I’d like to see you break any of these barriers! They’re strong enough to defend against a Sky Realm Expert’s full-powered strike! By now, the forces of my trading group are already mobilizing and they’ll come in less than an hour”, he explained.

Looking at her he gestured towards the back of her.

“I suppose you’ve seen my guards before finding me? I can assure you that there will be plenty of them to come.”

Narrowing in his eyes with a sneer, he held up the ring, looking at it whilst glancing over at her.

“You might want the ring for its contents but so do I. This… this is worth more than my life. It is worth more than anything so I will never let it go. So you best give up now”, he warned.

Ming Yue clicked her tongue and frowned, feeling just a bit annoyed by this.

“Multiple barriers that can withstand a Sky Realm Expert’s attacks, you say?”

She took a step back, putting Blood Moon away before taking the Black Blade out. There was an ominous hum of power as it was revealed, a resonant how as she brandished the sword.

Pointing it towards the carriage, she went into stance and took a deep breath. At that point, both Xiao Yin and Hei Yue had retreated, not wanting to be in the way.

Tang Bi Gan suddenly felt a growing sense of dread as he watched it unfold. The sneer from before slowly changed to a look of surprise and then horror.

“Wh- what do you think you’re doing? You can’t break those barriers! You have quite the ego for someone so young. There’s no way that you’re at the Sky Realm! The youngest to reach it was thirty years old and you… you’re much younger than that!”

His voice wavered as he said all this, trying to stop her. At the same time, that sense of dread only grew. The uncertainty within him could not be quelled.

Alas, none of these could convince him otherwise but seeing is better than believing.

Ming Yue didn’t even hear a thing he said as she focused on drawing power from within, circulating it into the Black Blade. The humming grew louder as her grip on the sword was firm.

She was in control.

Nothing was said as the cultivator swung out. The blade shrieked as it cut through all of the barriers and into the carriage.

Just one diagonal cut through it all and it just barely cut off a bit of Tang Bi Gan’s hair. His mouth was wide open as she let out a deep breath, lowered the sword, and walked up to him.

She snatched the ring from his hand and studied it closely making sure that it wasn’t destroyed. Ming Yue then looked up at Tang Bi Gan, seeing his frozen expression.

“Hmph.”

Ming Yue turned to go as she had gotten what she came for.

“It would’ve been better to kill him”, Xue Yue muttered, “His face is a little too annoying for me.”

Even Elder Zhen said something.

“I agree. I was getting tired of his idiotic attitude.”

The young woman just chuckled at them.

“Stop it, who knows how troublesome it would get if I do that? I don’t have the time to spare for any distractions”, she told them.

With the ring in hand, she walked away.

“Oh, so you were here first.”

The Splendid Goose descended from the sky and landed in front of her. Several others soon followed, looking at Ming Yue and then at the other two with a bit of surprise and curiosity.

Peeking over her shoulder, the man saw Tang Bi Gan and chuckled.

“Ah, so it was you, you little upstart. All for that key”, he said to the petrified man.

Walking past her, the Splendid Goose gave him a look from head to toe.

“As much as you wanted the key to the Tang’s Inheritance, you had nothing of value to me. Frankly, I had planned on taking everything for myself but I decided to hold off on it just in case. It’s unfortunate that the key went to someone else”, he said to him.

Ming Yue then handed the ring over to him along with the letters she had offered in exchange for the Dragon Eye Berries.

“Please, I’d like to complete our exchange.”

She looked at him somewhat intensely to which he smiled and took the ring from her.

“Of course, I’m not one to back off on an agreement. Just give me a moment t- Hm?”

Putting the ring on his finger, the Splendid Goose had a strange look on his face as he tried to use it. For a moment, he stopped and brought the ring closer to his face, inspecting it. His eyes widened as he looked at Ming Yue.

“This is… a fake?!”

Everyone suddenly looked at Tang Bi Gan, seeing a knife pointed at his neck. As for the one holding the knife, it was the Muhou Troupe’s Leader that took the man hostage. He must’ve been freed from his bindings when Ming Yue split the carriage apart.

“Indeed, it is a fake”, he answered, “Just a countermeasure should the Muhou Troupe be betrayed.”

Suddenly Tang Bi Gan snapped out of his trance.

“A fake? You gave me a fake?!” he shouted indignantly.

The knife pressed a little harder on his neck at that moment, just enough to make a bit of blood drip out.

The Muhou Troupe’s Leader looked at him from behind, speaking into the man’s ear.

“I would’ve given you the real one if you had not refused to give the proper compensation.”

He then looked at all of the people that gathered for the ring, Ming Yue, the Splendid Goose, the experts sent by the Chamber of Gold as well as other experts hired by the rich denizens of the kingdom. Many of them were admittedly much stronger than him but he seemed to have taken control of the situation.

“I am willing to part with the ring if I am compensated.”