Daily life of a cultivation judge



Yang Qing sighed in admiration as he observed the passed-out Zou Liqin. Her passing through the four cardinal ten trigram formation was worthy of his recognition.

The formation was a top-tier blue-grade formation which meant it could draw the energy of the dao of heaven and earth to create a sense of spirituality when it was activated. It could entrap and kill anyone at the palace realm and below, and if an early-stage domain expert was caught off guard, suffering heavy injuries was not an impossibility.

Yang Qing decided to use a miniature version of it since the original version required an ascendant-grade material and several top-tier monarch-grade treasures as materials to lay it down. 

If he dared use such high-grade materials for a test that had a late-stage qi refinement expert as the peak expert, he had no doubt he would end up charged with over a dozen of fines for misappropriation of resources.

He thus decided to use a mid-tier monarch-grade artifact as the anchor and sky-rank resources as the secondary materials.

Even though the materials used and the formation he set up with the assistance of the formation hall was a downgraded version, it was still too much for participants below the foundation establishment realm to contend with. Even a regular peak core formation expert skilled in formations would die to it, let alone a bunch of participants with no much skill or power.

To help make breaking through the formation easy, Yang Qing deliberately hid the clues in the animal noises that appeared. The direction of their sound and the frequency highlighted the weak points of the formation, and as long as one followed it, they would make it out safely.

The final part was a cheeky thing he added to see if the participants were keen on details and if they were brave enough to take a leap of faith no matter how terrified they were. He had used a technique that could recreate the roar of a Xuanwu, otherwise known as the black tortoise. It held the same level of notoriety as a dragon, vermilion bird, white tiger, and phoenix. 

The last part was a test of bravery and keenness to detail with which they could figure out the clue from the booklet he handed to them.

Zou Liqin's performance amazed him particularly because he wasn't sure she would be able to do it, especially when Yu Mei and the rest passed out, leaving her behind by herself. If it were before the test, Yang Qing would have thought her odds of passing through the formation were high due to how attentive and meticulous she seemed to him.

However, from the experience she had with the heart-cleansing waterfall and what it did to her, he had doubts whether she could do it, and the first one and half hours when she was spiraling showed there was a likelihood she wouldn't do it, but from the moment she woke up, she continuously surprised him with her reformed attitude. Though she still seemed as terrified as before.

....

"He Shan, are you sure you know what you're doing?"

"Zou Yi, you have the cheek to ask me that....Who wasted away seven earth-rank herbs, all for the sake of pretending they were a skilled alchemist?

I shouldn't have let you near them. What a waste..."

"It was only because the effects of the red suckle berserker mushroom YOU GAVE ME made me a little bit unstable, and are you sure we were only out for thirty minutes?"

"Why are you asking me? I was passed out the same as you.."

"Yu Mei, is something wrong?"

"DON'T TELL ME YOU'RE HEARING VOICES AGAIN?!"

"He Shan, you bastard, can you point that ladle carefully? You're wasting the potion."

"Now is when you're worried about waste..."

"You...you...you.."

"Zou Liqin is waking up..."

"Liqin, wake up slowly, don't strain yourself," said Zou Yi as he rushed to Zou Liqin's side, who was struggling to get up.

Zou Yi help her by her arms as he supported her up.

"Yi, you're awake?!" 

Zou Liqin, who had a groggy look, shot to her feet as if a jolt of lightning was coursing through her body.

"You're awake.." she excitedly said as she sized Zou Yi up and down.

"You too... I'm glad to see you're all awake.." she bashfully said when she noticed the awkward looks He Shan was giving her.

"Thank you for protecting us and bringing us here...." said He Shan in a low tone. 

He looked like he was struggling and filled with discomfort as he said those words.

"At least you have a conscience.." scoffed Zou Yi, which drew an angry glare from He Shan.

"Thank you, sister Liqin," Yu Mei said as she cupped her fists in gratitude.

"No, no, it is I who should thank you. If it weren't for your clue, I wouldn't have been able to figure it out," Zou Liqin hurriedly said as she bowed with deep gratitude.

While everything seemed like it had fallen into place for her, she wouldn't have entertained the thought of looking out for the animal noises had Yu Mei not mentioned it or insisted on it.

"Still, Liqin, you did great. It couldn't have been easy getting her....we finally found it, a special zone...Liqin, you can't imagine the things that are here. Reaching the qi refinement realm isn't an impossibility.." Zou Yi eagerly said.

Thanks to Zou Yi's reminder, she now had the time to observe the special zone. She had passed out before she could take it in, and now that she had the time, saying it was spectacular was an understatement.

The area still had a few trees around it with green grass below, but they all seemed more unique than the other trees and grasses they had seen along the way. They had a certain charm and richness to them that affected not only the air and environment around them as a whole but even Zou Liqin herself. 

She felt her fatigue, both mental and physical, wash away with every whiff and glance she took. The area seemed to have been partitioned into different zones, with a few trees being used as the demarcation line.

One area had cauldrons, wooden tubs and was filled with all kinds of herbs.

"Did we collect all those herbs" she wondered as she switched her gaze to the other areas.

Another had a furnace and a working bench, and crates filled with all kinds of ores and minerals that Zou Liqin couldn't recognize, and another area had inks, slabs, and scrolls. Another area had a weapon rack filled with all kinds of weapons, and one area looked like it was a training area.

"Is this all for us?" she muttered in stupefaction.

"It seems so..." Zou Yi said as he admired the scenery with her. He still couldn't believe the special zone would be this stacked.

"There are ingredients, and over ten recipes we can use to achieve a silver body. Not only that, there are even a few that will help us reach the gold body and one that will highlight how to gain a diamond body..." Zou Yi said

"Too bad, the ingredients are not provided, and none of what we collected would work, not even putting into account the level of skill required to concoct such a herbal solution.." Zou Yi said with regret filled in his tone.

Zou Liqin walked with a zombie-like expression as she went to the area that looked like it had been specially set aside for alchemy. Her eyes gleamed in excitement as she took sight of the mountain of herbs arranged in different compartments. 

While she couldn't tell what half of them were, she could tell by their grade they were all earth-rank herbs of the highest grade. Her hands went over to the cauldrons that were designed in the shape of a bullfrog.

There were three of them, and each had a different color to the other. One was earth brown, another dark grey, and the last one was yellow. Their qualities looked uniform, and there were small glyphs glowing around them, and below them, there were what looked to be coals that produced gentle white flames.

Just like that, she absentmindedly went around the different segments of the special zone, examining the different resources stored there. Every single area had the same level of resources, which was at the top tier of earth grade.

Only in the area with all sorts of weapons did she find a difference. The finished weapons stored there were made of mortal materials, and although their qualities looked exquisite, they were built for those with no cultivation base. She was sure if she dared smash the century iron pebble at them with force, a few of them would break.

The training area was what brought her the biggest surprise. She could feel herself calm down and her thoughts becoming sharper with every second she was there.

"This area...." she muttered.

"Was designed specifically to help us grow our strength in preparation to scale the mountain.." said Zou Yi.

When Zou Liqin turned to face them, she could see their spirits soar up with battle intent as Zou Yi said this. Even the calm Yu Mei had a gleam of battle intent flashing in her eyes.

"We will reach the top," yelled Zou Liqin, swallowed up by the atmosphere before she hurriedly closed her mouth in embarrassment when she saw the dumbfounded look the three were giving her.

"WE WILL REACH THE TOP!" the trio yelled seconds after and then they all burst out laughing.