Daily life of a cultivation judge

Because they were orange grade formations he was able to do a scan over the area without triggering them.

Through his palace sense he could see the dilapidated facilities, the wastes and the disintegrating sulfur desert lace flower, and finally the outersect disciples. Some were in the same state as Ma Qi when he arrived at the courtroom, sluggish in every sense of the word while others were in an even worse state.

Yang Qing continued his scan upwards and realized the drastic difference in status within the sect. The facilities got better, along with the environment and the vibrancy of the disciples something that was severely lacking in the fringe areas of the sect which was likely the region where the outersect disciples were being housed.

One could hardly believe they were part of the same sect from how wide the difference between the outer sect and the rest of the sect.

Once Yang Qing reached the region covered by the low-tier blue-grade formation he stopped his scan.

"Senior Yen Xu, do you detect the presence of a fourth-stage palace realm expert coming from the region covered with the blue-grade formation..."

"There is, but it is very faint. Doesn't look like he will live long. He has 50-70 years at most.."

"Seems like their fall is almost nigh.." Yang Qing said with a sigh.

The retired supreme elder was like the glue that held the shattered pieces of the Striding Falacon Sect in place. 

Once he died, the alliance faction would definitely openly clash with the faction led by the sect master. Regardless of how the clash goes whether it would be forceful and direct or a slow drawn out approach, the Striding Falcon Sect would fracture in the end, and how long would it be before their enemies or those with greedy intentions set their sights on them? 

If the alliance faction ends up as the winner in the clash against the sect master faction, how long would it be before they turn on each other, as each member tries to vie for supremacy over the rest? 

If they could turn on the sect master and the ideals of the sect, it stood to reason they would just as easily turn against each other.

The way Yang Qing saw it, the fall of the Striding Falcon Sect was all but guaranteed. Now it was only a matter of how long it would take and how bad the fall would be.

"Well, whatever happens next, it has nothing to do with me, and it couldn't have happened to a nicer sect.." murmured Yang Qing.

He felt no remorse for them and actually rather hoped their demise would happen fast. Both the alliance faction and the sect master faction were to blame for what happened in his eyes even the retired supreme elder too. 

Yes, the alliance faction instigated a lot of what had happened, but in Yang Qing's eyes, it would not have reached this point if the sect master or the retired supreme elder had not been too passive and accommodating.

They let the rot go on for too long until it infected the whole sect leading to this point, and even with things as dire as they are they still seemed to be adopting the wait-and-see approach leaving the sheep outer sect disciples to fend for themselves in a den of wolves.

Yang Qing quickly pushed away his thoughts as he immediately released the full pressure of his cultivation base.

His robes billowed as if a thunderous cascading tide was being produced from his body. The air seemed to vibrate around his body as his eyes switched to a shade of golden yellow and emerald blue.

Ma Qi took an inadvertent gulp as he felt like he was seeing the force of the sun and the force of an ocean all blend within Yang Qing's body.

He couldn't believe that this was the carefree and easy-going-looking person from before. 

Yen Xu had shielded both him and Luo Meili from Yang Qing's pressure but even with the shielding in place, Ma Qi could still vividly feel the boundless presence being released by Yang Qing. He felt like a tiny pebble submerged in a vast ocean with a blinding sun right above him.

It was only now that he truly believed the statement Yang Qing had made earlier of being able to guarantee his life even if the entire sect turned on him.

Right below Yang Qing, the arrays of the Striding Falcon Sect that had been the target of Yang Qing's pressure flickered with a sense of desperation. The ones on the outer edges of the sect looked to be at their limit milliseconds after being triggered. They would have been shattered had Yang Qing not controlled his pressure and concentrated it on the core region where the blue-grade formation was centered.

A grey-blue semi-illusory upside-down mountain appeared above the central region of the sect. The mountain looked like an umbrella shielding the core region of the sect against Yang Qing's overbearing pressure.

Countless runic symbols appeared at the center of the mountain in a circular rotation. With every complete rotation, the illusory mountain would release a dense weighted pressure of its own that clashed against Yang Qing's pressure.

An ethereal glow appeared around Yang Qing's arms as his hair changed to a shade of black and white. His energy slowly metamorphosized and grew more majestic, the boundless vastness now had an air of antiquity to it.

The mountain that had been able to neutralize his pressure easily moments ago now seemed like it was being pushed to its limits as the rune rotation grew in intensity almost as if there was a desperation to it.

An instant later Yang Qing immediately dispelled his pressure as an aged voice rife with worry came from within the mountain.

"Friend please stay your hand, if our sect has in any way offended you, we are willing to apologize and make any recompense for any slight done towards you.."

"Thank you for your consideration, friend.." the aged voice added immediately after on noticing Yang Qing had dispelled his aura.

Ma Qi's jaw was wide open along with his eyes as he struggled with the events happening before him.

Yang Qing's hair had returned back to green and his aura was once again normal and unassuming. He was back to his easygoing languid self.

Ma Qi squinted a few times wondering if he had hallucinated those few seconds. However, the inverted mountain below him that looked to be quaking was proof what he saw wasn't an imagination.

Yang Qing's lips tugged when he saw no one making an appearance. His show earlier was just his way of announcing himself. He had controlled it perfectly to avoid disturbing the retired supreme elder in death seclusion but it was strong enough to alarm everyone within the sect, especially the leaders, whom he very much needed their attention.

"Hello, my name is Yang Qing and I am a judge of the Order. I am here to give the verdict of a case filed against you by one of your disciples..." said Yang Qing.

He amplified his voice to travel throughout the sect.

Murmurs of confusion flooded the sect for a few seconds before someone finally came out of the mountain. It was an elderly man with white hair tied in a Daoist top knot who wore fiery daoist robes.

His eyes had a sense of exhaustion, a bit of wariness, and wisdom to them.

Even without any introductions, Yang Qing knew it was the sect master of the Striding Falcon Sect, Pan Xue.

The sect master stood one spot of the inverted mountain using it as a foothold as his gaze warily fell on Yang Qing before it moved over to Luo Meili and finally Ma Qi which drew a look of confusion and surprise from him, which he quickly tried to hide.

Ma Qi immediately shrunk back when he saw the sect master, even though he had never met the person, he had seen a picture of him once at the missions hall. 

Fear was soon replaced with unconcealed anger and resentment as he stared fiercely at the elderly man despite the earlier trepidation.

In Ma Qi's eyes, all he and countless others had endured was the sect master's fault. There was no way the sect master wouldn't know all the happenings of the outer sect and the suffering they had endured, which meant he was complicit and supported what was happening to them.