Maiden Of The Splitting Moon

With each day, she found herself growing more accustomed to feeling the energy of the world. But she would not be satisfied until she could merge this energy with her own and use it in a technique. Only then would she have successfully reached the next stage of the Sword Path.

With training and cultivating coming along, there was only one elder that has yet to make her formal appearance, Elder Hua.

Ming Yue's time with Elder Hua was an interesting one to say the least.

Pretty much everyone under her sought the way of pill-making. Yet Ming Yue, who had no business with that, was given the same access to the materials but used it for paste-making*. More than that, she spent much of her time alone with Elder Hua, conversing about medicine with each other.

On one such day, Ming Yue was busy grinding up some dried herbs in her own personal workroom. It wasn't an actual workroom but a space given to her by Elder Hua. She sat before a table with several bundles of plants by her. Dried stalks of red grass and various trimmed leaves and roots piled on the table. Next to it was the mortar and pestle she was using to grind the medicine. A bucket filled with water stood by her as she dumped the ground up herbs into it.

All around her were jars that suffused a sweet floral scent, most likely carrying all sorts of medicine that she created herself.

Xiao Yin was with her, helping to place new stalks into the mortar. Hei Yue could not handle the smell of the medicine and returned to Ming Yue's room on his own. This process would take all day and the fox's nose could not endure for that long.

Ming Yue was immersed in her work until someone knocked on her door before coming in. It was Elder Hua that came. The two greeted each other followed by Elder Hua asking what she was making.

"Bone Setting Bandages", Ming Yue replied as she went back to her seat.

"Oh, it seems like every day you are making something different. Well, I hope you're ready. I'm going to test you for a bit", said Elder Hua.

Ming Yue nodded allowing the Elder to continue. Although paste-making wasn't Elder Hua's expertise, her medical knowledge far surpassed Ming Yue's. With her teaching, Ming Yue learned much more about the ways of medicine. Elder Hua was an expert with high pedigree but when it came to Ming Yue, she was like a young woman.

When she first watched Ming Yue make medicine, Elder Hua would assault her with all kind of questions.

Where did she learn this?

How did she end up becoming a cultivator?

Was there anyone she liked?

What was her final goal?

She was incredibly interested in Ming Yue's upbringing but she was careful as well. Some questions, she chose not to pursue any further. Elder Hua noticed the changes in Ming Yue's eyes as she asked about the girl's father. It was hard to describe, it wasn't necessarily sadness but a mix of reminiscence and melancholy.

As for Ming Yue, she found Elder Hua's personality quite different from what she had expected. The first time Ming Yue saw her, she thought the Elder would be more mysterious or eccentric. After all, she arrived to Clear Spring Mountain under an illusion just to play some trickery.

Never would she have thought that Elder Hua was so chatty.

As the two grew more comfortable with each other, their conversations went from medicine to everyday life. Though, it was mostly Elder Hua that talked. Sometimes, she would answer questions that Ming Yue had and other times, she would talk about all kinds of things. Gossip that she learned from her students, complaints about her day, ranting over the medical concoctions she carried with. But as the Elder, she did test her students and Ming Yue was no exception.

"What are the three forms of medicine?"

"Unrefined, paste, and pill."

"...and the difference?"

"Directly consuming the herb will give the strongest results. Whether it is medicinal or for cultivation, the energy will be more potent but it will leave impurities in ones body. As a paste, this is a method used by body cultivators. It is also a popular method for small villages, although it is only in the form of simple remedies. But for body cultivators, paste are best used for training the body. Furthermore, some concoctions can even nourish the physical body better than pills. However, pills are by far the most versatile one. Its potency is slightly weaker than eating the herb raw but in exchange it leaves little to no impurities in the body. It can be for medicine, cultivating, boosting one's power, increasing ones comprehension ability but it is the most expensive method. Pill-making needs both a cauldron and a furnace. In addition, there are chances of failing the process, wasting the materials."

"What about ranks?"

"Plants, materials, and beasts all fall under a similar system with ranks from 1 to 10. The difference is that the potency of medicinal plants are classified by age while the rank indicates their rarity. There is ten year, a hundred year, and a thousand year. Anything in the ten thousand or hundred thousand range no longer exists, even if they do, someone would have taken it quickly."

Elder Hua was satisfied with her answer and then decided to ask a different question.

"Why is paste-making better than the other two?"

Rather than see the young girl stutter, Ming Yue did not seem bothered. Her position as a doctor's daughter was not some empty title.

"It isn't better it is just different. The potency isn't as strong as the other two forms but the gap is quite small. The process is quicker but requires accurate measurements to get the best effect with the least impurity. You don't need much to make it, maybe a mortar and pestle but you could optionally just chew it. It might be best suited for body cultivators but that doesn't mean it is useless to normal cultivators. Pills are popular because they're simple to use. You can just put it into your mouth and let it dissolve. Ingesting the unrefined plant gives you raw energy, powerful but hard to control."

Elder Hua nodded approvingly with her answer and continued to question her for the rest of the day. Ming Yue had to identify all sorts of herbs and explain their uses and effects.

Time went by quick and Ming Yue finished several batches of what she called the, "Bone Setting Bandages". It was a reddish pink sludge to which she soaked bandages in them. This method allowed the bandages to absorb the medical efficacy but left out most if not all of the impurity that came from the sludge.

Elder Hua finished Ming Yue's personal test and stayed a little afterwards to talk a bit.

"You know, one of my old students came back after traveling. The little boy even had a couple of disciples too. We had a fair bit of catching up to do."

As Elder Hua spoke, she helped Ming Yue organize the many jars of medicine in her workroom.

"When I spoke of you, he seemed to be a bit surprised, telling me that one of his students had met you some time ago. It was at a ruined town named Blue Willow, if I recall."

Upon hearing the name, Ming Yue looked at Elder Hua.

"What a small world", she said, "Is that disciple named Yong Jing?"

"Oh yes, it is! How fascinating, would you like to meet her now?" Elder Hua asked her with anticipation.

"Maybe later, I'm a little bit tired right now."

"Oh... sure, tomorrow then yes?"

"Mm."

Elder Hua left Ming Yue alone, returning to her quarters. As for Ming Yue, Blue Willow Town caused her to reminisce about Red Lotus Country. It has been a year since she was there, now she's sixteen years old. Two years have passed since her village had perished and quite a lot has happened since then.

She gave a quiet sight and cleaned her workroom, thinking about the things she had experienced. Finishing up, Xiao Yin followed Ming Yue to her bedroom and nested on her shoulder.

Her last thoughts as she went to sleep was how far she had come.