Maiden Of The Splitting Moon - Chapter 734: Chasing After Traces

The moment they passed by each other, Ming Yue stopped and turned around.

“That was… energy from the Evergreen Heart! It’s slightly different but I’d recognize it anywhere!”

Her eyes darted around, searching for the one that caught her attention. But then Den was full of people, just looking around wasn’t going to cut it.

“Senior Cheng Wei… could he be around here?” she thought.

“Is there something wrong, Ming Yue?”

Elder Shen noticed the sudden change in her behavior, asking her this. However, she did not answer him. Or rather, she was not paying to attention to him at all. The young cultivator was solely focused on looking for her target.

“Where could he have gone?”

Suddenly spreading her energy around, she sensed her surroundings, looking for traces of the Evergreen Heart’s energy. But her doing this immediately alerted Cheng Wei, who froze for just an instant before quickly moving away.

“Someone is here, are they looking for me?”

Not wanting to linger any longer, the senior walked as fast as possible, going down numerous roads and streets to lose his pursuer. However, Ming Yue was the one searching for her.

“It’s faint but it’s there. It could be Cheng Wei or perhaps one of his acquaintances.”

Leaving the rest of her group, she moved through the crowds, searching for every trace she could find.

Soon enough, she found herself off the main roads and walking through the quieter parts of the Den. Her eyes darted around, looking down each passing road in search of Cheng Wei.

But then she stopped at an open plaza where multiple roads met.

“It stopped here, why did it stop here?” she muttered to herself.

Looking around the plaza, there was a stone fountain at the center of it, spewing water from the top. Much of the surrounding area was grass as many citizens of the Den sat or laid on it.

Try as she might, the Evergreen Heart’s energy was nowhere to be found.

A short distance away, the hooded figure of Cheng Wei was hidden under one of the shadows of the buildings, looking at the plaza. He held something in his hand, presumably what had allowed him to hide his tracks. But when the old man saw Ming Yue, his eyes widened in surprise before caution settled in.

“That’s… Ming Yue? But if she’s the one looking for me then… she knows about it. She knows that I kept that branch. Still, she won’t be able to find me, not here or anywhere.”

Thinking this, he didn’t stay around for much longer, moving to finish his errands and leaving as fast as possible.

Meanwhile, Ming Yue was still in that plaza with a confused and an irritated look on her face.

“Damn, to think that he’d be in the Den at the same time as me. He must’ve masked the energy somehow.”

While thinking about this, Xiao Yin and Hei Yue had caught up to her before Elder Shen and Hongyu followed.

The Elder looked a little out of breath as he came to her, no doubt a little tired from having to chase after Ming Yue and keeping watch of Hongyu.

“Hah, hah, why did you suddenly run off?” he asked her.

“I… I noticed something but it seems like it’s no longer there.”

She answered him though, her mind was elsewhere, still preoccupied with finding a new trace of the Evergreen Heart’s energy. Despite her efforts, Ming Yue found nothing else.

Elder Shen raised a brow when he heard this. Sensing his surroundings, he quickly realized why she acted the way she did.

“This energy… it’s boundless… full of life and vitality it would seem. But since you stopped then this must be where the trail had ended for you”, he said.

Ming Yue looked a bit surprised, seeing that he was able to understand all of this so quickly. Then again, he was known as the Spirit Elder for a reason.

“Do you think you can find out where this energy is headed?” she asked.

Unfortunately, Elder Shen shook his head while looking at her with a complicated expression.

“From what I can tell, a treasure was used to mask it so trying to find out more is next to impossible. We’d have to spend several days or weeks even, scouring the city for another travel”, he told her.

“I see.”

Hearing this, Ming Yue was disappointed. Even if they did manage to find more traces, Cheng Wei would be long gone by the time they found one. She took a deep breath before looking back at Elder Shen and Hongyu.

“Pursuing this probably isn’t worth the time”, she said, “Let’s go back.”

The others looked back at her and nodded.

And so they retraced their steps, going back to where they began and with the help of the Zodiac’s directions, Ming Yue led the group right to the group’s abode. It was a large mansion with a spacious courtyard in the back. Of course, there was also a familiar ship just peeking behind the mansion’s silhouette.

Walking up to the doors, Ming Yue knocked three times before waiting.

“Give me a moment!”

A cheerful voice echoed from within as they heard heavy steps coming to the doors. With a few clicks, the doors opened and Zhu Xie, the large boar-kin, emerged from inside. His eyes immediately fell upon Ming Yue and the other members of her group, all of which he greeted happily.

“Ah, Miss Yue! You’re here! I was wondering when you’d be coming. And our new guests, please come in, come in!”

Holding the door open, he stood to the side, letting everyone enter before closing the doors behind him.

“Zhu Xie, it’s great to see you again. How is everyone else doing?” she asked.

The boar-kin led them through the hallways of the mansion, taking everyone to the courtyard.

“Ah, aside from me, everyone else has gone off to do their own things. Ao Qin, Ruishi Lei, and the Four Claws have all gone off to explore the continent together. They’re the ones who have been exploring ruins but also looking for what you asked for. Meanwhile, Lao Yang’s side has been very busy with compiling information and doing research with others. It’s mostly just me in this house. Not that I mind, I have plenty of time to tinker and whatnot!” he told them.

“Then, what about Bai Sheng? Is she with her son?” Ming Yue asked.

Zhu Xie looked over his shoulder and nodded with a smile.

“Yes! Those two have actually gone back to their home in the Halycon Meadows.”

“Really? I thought it would’ve been long abandoned!”

The cultivator thought back to that little home, feeling a bit regretful that she could not protect that place for much longer. But Zhu Xie chuckled.

“Ah, it was! But with the connection between all three continents along with the power we gained from the Beast Gods, taking that place back was quite easy. In fact, that was one of the first things we did, even before we started expanding the Den!”

As he said this they entered a spacious dining room where the boar-kin let them all sit.

“I’ll have a meal ready soon and after that, there is much that we have to tell you!” he said to her before running off into the kitchen.

Elsewhere in the city, Cheng Wei walked out of another store and then turned into one of the quiet sidestreets. He clicked his tongue as he stopped in a quiet spot.

Taking off the hood, he looked extremely annoyed, staring at the walls of the corridor.

“There was nothing else there that I haven’t already used. So what now?” he muttered to himself, “Should I just stick to finding whatever is in the wilderness? But that could take time that I simply don’t have. What to do?”