Daily life of a cultivation judge



Ma Ling looked his way in confusion, though there was something different this time, and that something grew more and more prominent, the more Ma Yuan tried to gently coax her not to be fearful.

Ma Yuan gently and slowly brought up things they used to do together, her favorite meals, what they'd do on a typical day, what she liked doing, what she hated, but had to do like the morning punching routines her mother had her do diligently without fail.

Every story Ma Yuan brought up, seemed to evoke something from her, even though it seemed like she was still wary of Ma Yuan and the rest, the things Ma Yuan said, made her pause her movements. 

From the way her eyes moved, it seemed like the things seemed familiar, yet unfamiliar to her, as she scrunched her face at why strange things seemed familiar despite her having no recollection of it.

The final nail was when Ma Yuan took something out of his storage ring. It was a short knife, though from the crude design, calling it a knife was an understatement. From its shape, it looked like a grafting knife.

It had lumps all over, the edges looked dull, and the material used to make it was sand iron which was a low-grade earth-rank material, while the wood used as a handle, was a mortal-rank wood, which had been processed poorly.

However, that crudely shaped knife had been encased in a box made from prismatic juniper wood, which was a top-tier sky rank tree.

"Do you remember this, you made me this when you were four, and it is one of the greatest treasures I have.." Ma Yuan said with a proud smile as he gently picked up the harvesting knife and slowly passed it to Ma Ling, who from the moment the knife appeared, froze as a look of remembrance appeared on her.

She stopped moving back to the board of the bed and crawled forward, slowly taking the knife from Ma Yuan's hand as she closely examined it.

She traced her hands over it, examining every single part with her touch and sight, seeming more familiar to it with every sense.

"Dew harvester.." she absentmindedly muttered.

"Yes!" Ma Yuan excitedly said.

"You named it the Dew harvester, saying I could even harvest dew with it.." Ma Yuan said, then became embarrassed when he remembered there was company present, and the craftmanship of the knife.

He wasn't the only one, because Ma Ling's cheeks reddened with embarrassment too.

"Who are you? Your voice seems familiar but I've never seen you...I don't think I have.." she tilted her head in contemplation as she closely scrutinized Ma Yuan.

Ma Yuan's lips opened and closed a couple of times as if in a struggle with what to say.

"I'm your father, Ling'er.." he said after struggling with it.

His eyes held fear and hope in them, as he said it, along with regret, and guilt.

"Father.." her eyebrows joined up in consternation at those words.

"But I don't have one. I'm an orphan that the Ice Emerald Sect took in from when I was a child. My parents died to bandits when I was small, and Elder Deng Yaozu found me and took me back to the sect..

Who are you?! Where is Elder Deng Yaouz?!" 

She started to get hysterical which left Ma Yuan heartbroken and confused about what to do.

He felt his spirits plummet to the ground and his heart break at his daughter's reaction. Earlier when she recognized the knife, he thought maybe things were not as bad as he had imagined.

He had personally seen what memory-altering gu could do to someone, and when his wife and daughter got taken, of the worst case scenarios, of the one that had most probability in his mind, was them having their memories altered, and souls controlled. This was why, though he felt hurt, his daughter had one in her, he wasn't as affected greatly by the revelation.

But then, he came here, saw her, whatever experience and expectations he had, all went with the wind, and he became a parent with the hope that his only child remembered him, and when she showed signs of it, the gloomy world he had been living in for the past seven years, seemed to light up, and now with her present reaction, he felt he had been thrown to an even deeper darkness than before.

Tan Jie flashed to where the hysterical Ma Ling was and gently tapped her forehead, which put her to sleep, as she gently laid her on the bed. She formed a seal with her hands and the water barrier from before reappeared but now Tan Jie left it to run autonomously as plant tendrils appeared below Ma Ling's bed and wrapped themselves around the water barrier.

The water barrier seemed to change when it came into contact with the tendrils. A purifying, gentle energy started pulsing from it, which made even the heartbroken Ma Yuan have some semblance of calm.

"Your daughter will be fine, the fact that she recognizes your voice, and certain objects from her past, is a really good place to start.

We have had worse, and we still managed to restore them, fully..." Tan Jie comfortingly said.

"We will do the same with your daughter.." she firmly added.

"Really?" Ma Yuan asked, desperate to cling to something.

"We will.." 

"Okay.." he said as he took a seat next to Ma Ling.

"Now as far as the treatment goes, we will do things gradually. You can talk with her about her past, things she did, as for revealing your identity or her mother's, let's wait until her mind and mental sea are stable, which should be after about three or four months.."

"Okay.."

"Your daughter is in the best hands possible.." Yang Qing said as he patted Ma Yuan's shoulder.

"Thank you, Judge Yang Qing, for all you have done. I don't know how I can ever repay you.."

"Don't worry about it, worry about your daughter that will be payment enough.."

"I'll leave you to your daughter, the Medical Valley has accommodations you can use, right Tan Jue?"

"Yes, someone will be here shortly to guide him.."

"Good, Ma Yuan I wish you and your daughter well, and should you need anything, you can always reach out to me, don't hesitate.." 

"I will.."

"Tan Jue, I leave them in your care, and thanks.." 

"MmH.."

Yang Qing turned and left and made his way to the Judicial Review Committee, as per Vice President Tao's orders, and he also had the matter with the Spiritual temperance sect territory to present.