Chapter 778 Misfortune of the bleeding moon (2)
?Accounts suggest it was running for its life and heavily injured when it stumbled onto the two, however, even heavily injured it had been at the core formation stage, and Wen Yu a peak foundation establishment cultivator at the time, had to sacrifice her life to injure it further, creating a loud commotion in the process alerting Luo Shen who quickly came to their aid. But ultimately it was too late, his wife suffered fatal injuries and had kept herself from passing on by sheer will waiting for their daughter to be rescued, and when Luo Shen arrived, she shuffled off her mortal coil not long after.
Scarred by the events, Luo Shen never left Luo Xue's side, obsessed with keeping herself from all dangers, which led him to use all resources he had to hire her a saber instructor using the contacts of the royal blacksmith when he saw she showed interest for the bladed. That interest blossomed into talent that even garnered praise from the instructor who was famous for guiding the noble scions of the kingdom.
After 15 years, she reached the peak of the foundation establishment realm already her body had already developed saber qi. In admiration of her talents, the instructor offered to refer her to some of the large families who had the resources to help her flourish, but Luo Shen refused, having an intimate understanding of how the noble families operated during his time at the palace.
No matter how much talent she showed, without sufficient background, she would be suppressed and exploited when she got into those families.
The instructor left when he saw he had nothing left to teach her, meanwhile, Luo Shen since the death of his wife, to ensure his daughter's safety and realizing his inability to do it forever, decided to use the one thing he was good at to ensure her safety. For fifteen years, he poured everything he had into crafting her the perfect saber. He knew his talents well, and he had no illusions that he would craft her a weapon with a spirit, but because of intense determination and sacrifice, the heavens saw pity on him.
The saber he created, though it did not have a spirit, had the potential to awaken one, given the right conditions, but even without its spirit awakened, the potential was more than enough for Luo Shen who had exhausted all he had into creating it including damaging his soul in the process which in turn affected his lifespan, a fact he hid from his daughter, the truth known only by him and the blade, that he named guardian crescent moon in the hopes it would always guard and light her path in the darkest of nights hiding its edge beneath the starry skies.
He spent the remainder of his life keeping Luo Xue company making sure they made as many memories as possible before his time was up with the most pleasant one being seeing Luo Xue break through to the core formation realm easing some of his worries. It wasn't long before he passed away asking Luo Xue to live as she wished, if she wanted to leave the village and see the wider world she could but he was insistent on her being wary of the noble families of the Gentle Rock Kingdom, who, unlike the name, were anything but gentle.
After his passing, Luo Xu spent the next decade in the village mourning him, as she polished her heart whilst also bonding with her saber as she had done from the moment it was handed to her. Even though its spirit had not awakened, there was a familial established bond between the two as they continuously affected each other. Luo Xue reaching the core formation realm as fast as she did was in part due to the saber.
However, as if misfortune was hell-bent on pursuing the family, another tragedy struck the Luo family.
The early passing of Luo Shen was a blessing in disguise for him. At least he didn't get to witness the events that transpired if he did...I am not sure how he would have lived with that torment.
The instructor who had trained Luo Xu visited the village during the period that she was mourning her father. He still had not given up on recruiting her for one of the families he supported and hoped with enough time passing, Luo Shen would reconsider. He had even come with a sky-grade herb, the sense-sublimating lily, known for helping a cultivator calm their heart, and deepen their understanding and concentration.
Preferred by most weapon users to strengthen their weapon qi in the hopes of achieving intent, the instructor hoped to use the herb to convince Luo Shen into acceptance as the herb could help her reduce the time needed and smoothen a breakthrough to the core formation realm by helping her deepen her understanding and sensitivity of the saber dao.
His plan proved to be useless as the person he wanted to convince had already died, and the herb he hoped to use as a lure was useless as Luo Xue had already broken through to the core formation realm which further increased his desire to recruit her into the family he supported.
He spent the next few months sharing his insights in the hopes of recruiting her. Before his passing, her father had warned her to keep the saber a secret until she reached the peak of the core formation realm or the saber awakened its spirit. She heeded that advice, however, the instructor was someone she had known ever since she was a child and had guided her on the way of the saber. Other than her father, the instructor could be considered the only other person she was close with.
Despite being a core formation realm expert, all her life she lived sheltered by her father unaware of the dangers of the human heart. Out of sentiment and impatience, she revealed her saber to him in the hopes that he could offer guidance on how she could hasten the awakening process of her saber.."
Yang Qing's heart paused as he knew where this was headed. He had seen enough cases to know this could only lead one way.
"The instructor despite being a middle-stage core formation expert, interacted a lot with the affluent to know a weapon that had the potential to awaken. Unsure of his ability to snatch the saber from her, he opted for the next best thing which was to convince her to join the Zhang family, which was the noble family he was closely affiliated with in the hopes of gaining enough favor with them for them to support his cultivation and raise his station with them.
However, Luo Xue refused him as she wanted to set out on her own and try to be an explorer of the Horizon Odyssey Guild. When the invitation failed, the instructor concocted an excuse and left to inform one of the elders he knew from the Zhang family. From the records, the family was one of three that had a palace realm expert, so their reputation and power within the kingdom was very high. This was how they were able to fabricate a tale that countless believed.
After informing that elder, the Zhang family quickly dispatched a few of their clansmen to seize the saber from Luo Xue only to find she was not there. Despite her naivety, her father's warning must have rang in her mind sometime later, hence her departure.
The Zhang unwilling to give up on the blade, struck a deal with the royal family and they fabricated a tale with their support that vilified Luo Xue's father claiming he had stolen a precious saber from them whilst he worked as a blacksmith for the royal family and it only came to light thanks to the Instructor.
They framed Luo Xue too saying she refused to listen to reason and killed a few of their retainers who had been sent to her to explain the situation in good faith. Painted as a villain, the whole kingdom turned on her, and it wasn't long before she was found. Three months was how long it had taken and in those three months, she had experienced the depravity of the human heart.
The charade didn't stop there because when she was apprehended, a few days later she was beheaded with that saber. The saber meant to protect was the one that doomed her. Her death and anguish become a trigger for the awakening of the saber's spirit, which in retaliation for her death, immediately after awakening, slaughtered every single person present, those involved in the execution and those witnessing it.
It did not matter whether they had been involved or not, every single person within a kilometer radius of the place where Luo Xue was executed, died by being beheaded.
The saber had been pure white just like the moon, but from that day it transformed into a moon that cried in blood which was the form that its spirit took, a lady with white hair garbed with white and sorrow, crying tears of blood.
The Zhang family from root to stem were slaughtered, which continued to the royal family where every single person in the palace was slaughtered, except one, the royal blacksmith.
Six palace realm cultivators, over ten thousand core formation and foundation establishment experts, and countless qi refinement cultivators numbering in the hundreds of thousands were slaughtered by her in two weeks drenching the execution ground, the zhang household, and the royal palace in blood.
After the bloodbath, she left for the village where Luo Xue lived with her body in hand, buried her next to her father's grave, and stood vigil for them, where she remained until the other noble families afraid to confront her, forwarded the case of her slaughter to the Order who apprehended her afterward.
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