Daily life of a cultivation judge



Just as Li Shu felt she was about to be cleaved in half, a gentle breeze covered her bringing a sense of calmness and refreshes on every part of her body. Even her qi which felt sluggish in one instant and erratic the next seemed to have been affected by the breeze as a vibrancy returned to them.

She hurriedly looked up to see Yang Qing smile gently at her.

"Breath, Owner Bai Zou.."

Bai Zou felt his agitation settle down as he too got covered by a cool gentle breeze. Even though he had not lost himself to anger, those who developed slaughter qi or slaughter intent, while they did have an advantage over most when it came to sheer destructive force due to the nature of their intent or qi, that nature made them susceptible to erratic mood changes.

The overbearing nature of slaughter qi or intent, put pressure on their mental states which made them prone to mood swings or going berserk. This was why most slaughter qi users who were not of fiendish origins usually supplemented their cultivation with arts that strengthened their souls and mental states. 

They could either do it through a cultivation art, or a natural treasure or object with spirit calming properties such as the yellow plume ginseng tea leaves which were known to calming properties that had an effect on those that were in the domain realm.

However most opted to use a cultivation art or engage in secondary occupations that helped renew and strengthen the mind such as painting, playing an instrument, sea or sky gazing. In Bai Zou's case, Yang Qing assumed cooking was what helped him contain the overbearing nature of his slaughter intent, which was ironically why he had a mildly drastic reaction when he felt his restaurant was being targeted.

"Sorry, I lost myself for a second there.." 

Bai Zou cupped his fist in apology to both Yang Qing and Li Shu, whose skin seemed to be improving from the pale complexion it had a few seconds ago.

"Is he really a first-stage palace realm expert?!"

While Yang Qing's qi had a calming effect on him, a part of what made him regain his senses was shock, from how easily Yang Qing had affected his state.

Yang Qing didn't conceal his cultivation base, so it was his for Bai Zou who was in the second stage of the palace realm to detect it when he came into the courtroom. Therefore he knew Yang Qing seemed to be close to the peak of the first stage.

However, Yang Qing despite being weaker than him by a one minor level, managed to influence his state before Bai Zou had an opportunity to react. 

This was truly shocking for Bai Zou who had long grown to be hypersensitive to his surroundings no matter if it was his kitchen at the restaurant in Cinnabar Kingdom or within the courtroom of the Order, his guard was never down owing to years of being on guard against the spirit beasts.

But before he could react, Yang Qing had penetrated whatever defenses he had before he could even respond.

Yang Qing on the other hand thought nothing of it. Breaching Bai Zou's defense was a non-issue for him.

Bai Zou was just one minor level higher than him and when it came to foundations of the dao, type of core, and other factors including his peerless jade physique, he was miles ahead of Bai Zou, and there was also one other factor which was the instructors at the institute.

He had been brutalized for four years by them when he was just a puny qi refinement cultivator and they were levels higher than Bai Zou, and among them, there were a few of them who had slaughter intent that was denser, and much more refined than what Bai Zou had, and they would occasionally wash the young students with it, to train their minds and 'prepare' them.

Bai Zou's slaughter intent was like a peaceful meadow in springtime to Yang Qing when compared to the slaughter intent of those instructors and he had to soak it up for years. If he couldn't handle someone like Bai Zou when they were almost at similar levels then he might as well hand over all his yearly salary to those instructors as a thank you for how well they took care of him. 

"Judge Yang Qing while I sympathise with what daoist Li Shu has endured, I can say with certainty it has nothing to do with our restaurant. 

Every ingredient we use is carefully prepared and sourced, to bring out the greatest flavors and ensure its quality. It is for this reason that the restaurant has grown its fame over the years.

The meat dishes we serve such as the golden roast duck, the ducks that we use are ones that we rear ourselves and we do not use any pills like other establishments do, so as to fatten them up in the shortest amount possible and also boost their growth, or trick the customers it has more spiritual energy in it, than it actually does.

We rear them by using naturally produced spiritual herbs, and we monitor their growth and the quality of their meat. If any is found with fault, we do not serve it. I respect cooking, and I would not desecrate it by doing something untoward like pill dosing.

Even when it comes to the restaurant, I don't do it to earn money. You can see from the prices that are charged and the quality of the ingredients I use. What I make is just enough to have just a tiny bit above breaking even.

I opened the restaurants to live out the dream I shared with an old man that I admired greatly, which was opening a restaurant that served the most excellent meat dishes in the continent, that could be enjoyed by people in all walks of life.

A hope that those meat dishes could be a sort of reprieve for them. .." 

Bai Zou's look turned melancholic as he said this.

"Judge, I'm sure you have heard a little bit about Cinnabar kingdom?" asked Bai Zou

Yang Qing nodded.