Daily life of a cultivation judge

Yang Qing let out another sigh as he exhaled the turbid air concentrated within his heart. He raised his head as he stared at the solitary moon hanging up above them surrounded by countless stars.

He couldn't help but wonder what his reaction would be if he left a place he called home for years and that had to abruptly leave the place.

"I did run away from the Yang Mountain hold back then to the unfamiliar Order.." muttered Yang Qing with a wry smile.

"But I had a choice in the matter at least.." he added as his gaze fell slightly on the statue before he turned and decided to take a walk around the branch in the hopes it would uplift his mood.

He knew the obsidian serpent had gotten off easy in comparison to what their fates would have been had they fallen to any other party that wasn't the Order and one could even argue if it was not for Xie Wen's grandparents, the situation would have ended similar to what would have happened had they killed a member of another organization, and that was their execution.

And more than likely it wouldn't stop just there for those organizations, as they would likely go ahead and slaughter any other party associated with the couple such as the fire adler bear and maybe even Meifeng, and any other spirit beast they were even remotely acquainted with.

All these would be done under the banner of killing the chickens to scare the monkeys or an ironical form of preserving peace by eliminating roots to avoid future trouble.

Yang Qing slowly walked around the footpaths leading around the various rivers and peaks around the branch with wine in hand as he sorted out his thoughts or made peace with them.

He had mixed feelings on the whole thing. He felt the couple had been dealt a bad hand that didn't stop giving. On the other hand he felt some relief that they got to keep their lives at least. Another part of him, which was why he kept sighing with every step he took was, had the sentence come as an immediate execution, even though he was relieved the couple kept their life, he would have been okay with their execution for some reason.

Yang Qing couldn't help but wonder if he had gotten slightly hard-hearted ever since the Ice Emerald Sect incident.

After a few steps and passionate swigs of wine, Yang Qing came to a stop before one of the ponds in the area and a wry smile appeared on his face.

"I guess I really am petty like they always say. The thought of being stolen from bothers me a lot.." muttered Yang Qing after he questioned his heart over and over during the walk on why he could easily accept the death of the couple.

"The sealing flying dagger of the celestial river of forgetfulness is terrifying as advertised. Its title as one of the four anchoring treasures of the Order isn't for show. Just its aura alone made me feel like I had the power of the entire galaxy in the palm of my hands, what about the real thing.." muttered Yang Qing as he looked at his stretched-out palm recalling the sensation he had when he activated the scroll.

The scroll with the sentence had been imbued with the aura of the sealing flying dagger of the celestial river of forgetfulness. 

The dagger had been made by a fragment born of the power of the Origin Dao that pervaded the Celestial Ocean which was the Ocean that separated the southern continent and the western continent. 

Just like the Millionsfold Treasure Ocean or the Bestial Churning Sea, the Celestial Ocean had its unique features just like the two. 

The Celestial Ocean went by other names such as the ocean of ancient voices and scenes, or the ocean of dreams and terror.

All who walked through it would feel like they had been transported to another realm. A dream-like realm with celestial lighting and voices that either boomed like thunder or were silent like faint whispers aimed at lulling an infant to sleep. 

It was filled with contrasting sceneries, one minute one would feel like they were walking into an immortal banquet filled with all sorts of splendor and opulence, and the next one would feel like they were walking in the most horrific place they could ever imagine. A place of wailing terror.

The Celestial Ocean was an unfathomable and contradictory place. On surface value, it wasn't as opulent as the Milionsfold Treasure Ocean where as long as you looked hard enough harvesting an ascendant-grade treasure wasn't impossible, and if you were lucky enough, leaving with a saint-grade wasn't impossible; it also wasn't as horrendous as the Bestial Churning Sea where a domain expert would lose their life within seconds if they were careless; and it wasn't as ordinary looking as the Blue Origin Ocean.

However, what it did have going for it was its boundless mystery.

Was it an ocean, a mysterious realm, or some massive grotto?

A domain expert could step in there and end up hearing whispers that destroy their soul and body and a qi refinement cultivator can stumble into the ocean and walk into an immortal garden manifestation in the ocean and come out a peak domain expert.

It was usually a roll of the dice, how it pans out for all who stumble onto it, you could crumble to dust or reach the heavens with just one step.

The strange voices could contain secrets and deep profundities that would reveal countless mysteries of cultivation, while on the other hand, the voices could contain curses and attacks that would destroy the body and soul of all who heard them.

Soul formation experts were the only ones known to be able to traverse the ocean safely without being subject to its whims but even then, it wasn't a complete guarantee as there have been records of a few being affected by it. 

There was a senior figure of a rank 1 clan at the soul formation realm who once ventured into the Ocean to comprehend the insights contained within it and ended up getting lost within it for 4,000 years and it is unknown what happened to him during those 4,000 years. Said figure immediately locked himself up away from all affairs of the clan the moment he came out of the ocean.

His case wasn't the isolated one, as there have been reports of soul formation experts being affected by the Celestial Ocean. Though fatalities were not yet recorded among them, it did show the difficulty of traversing the Ocean.

The dagger was something born from that Ocean. Whatever made that Ocean function the way it did, the same force and power was in the fragment used in creating the dagger. It was this origin that made the sealing flying dagger of the celestial river of forgetfulness one of the most powerful treasures the Order has, to the point of being ranked as an anchoring treasure of the Order.

The Anchoring treasures were considered the Order's ultimate trump cards. Should the worst happen, they could depend on them to preserve a spark of themselves. 

Before yesterday, even though Yang Qing knew there were four such treasures, he only knew the identity of one of them and that was the object of his terror and complaints, the black hallowed building that garnered hope, awe, fear, and hatred to all who saw it, the main building of the courts of the Order.

Yang Qing had a love-and-hate relationship with that building. On one hand, it gave him sleepless nights, and on the other, it was the reason he never wanted to leave. The entire building was a living artifact and one of the most powerful the Order had. As long as he was in there, even the Holy Lands could forget about reaching him.

Within its confines, Yang Qing would even dare bad mouth the sect masters of the two holy lands without fear. Of course, his paranoia wouldn't let him do it, but he always reveled at the idea, that if he wanted to, he could do it.

How many people out there could say had the option of bad-mouthing the two figures, he did. Others may not know this, but that reason was one of the things that motivated him to go to the courtroom every day.

Other than the building, he didn't know about the other anchors up until yesterday, when Ye Xun passed on the scroll whilst explaining a brief background such as it contained the aura of the sealing flying dagger of the celestial river of forgetfulness.

From the little she touched on, Yang Qing knew sealing memories wasn't the only thing it could do, it went even as far as isolating karma and erasing one's existence even though they be alive, the dagger can make it as though they never existed. That person would be erased from the mind of everyone who ever knew him/her or will ever know them.

"If its aura alone could seal the impulses of late-stage palace realm spirit beasts, how terrifying must the real thing be.." wondered Yang Qing as he twirled his fingers with an incredulous gaze.

Yang Qing continued with his nightly walk and for some reason he absentmindedly found himself out of the branch, heading to Meifeng's cavern.

He couldn't help but smile wryly to himself as he walked there like he was going to his own backyard.

Meifeng as always was ecstatic when she saw him, and she was just about to kickstart their regular routine before Yang Qing stopped her as he decided to break the news of the obsidian couple leaving the Deer Mountain Range to her.

"Adler is sure to be heartbroken about this.." said Meifeng with a worried gaze.

"Well, after he comes out of his seclusion, if he wants to see them I will leave you with a talisman that he can use to communicate with them. He can use it to meet up with them after if he wants.." Yang Qing said as he took out one of the Order issued communication talismans from his storage ring.

Meifeng's eyes widened as she slowly caressed the light green jade talisman filled with white runes that created a mesmerizing circle dance every time she slid her hand through its surface.

"Could I have one like this too?" she hesitantly asked.

"It's to call you after you leave.." she hurriedly added as her eyes darted in anxiousness that Yang Qing would reject her request.

"It's yours, I only said Adler can use it, but the owner of that talisman is you. It's why I brought it.." Yang Qing said with a light chuckle.

"It's mine! You're sure!" Meifeng said, her demeanor and tone unable to hide her excitement with the crescent moon moth circling around her as if mirroring her excitement.

"It is.." Yang Qing gently said as he went on to explain to her how to use it.

Afterward like always, the lazy green-haired youth, a shut-in tree, a bird, and two insects shared songs, dances, wine, and skewered octopus meat all through the night.

Yang Qing left when it was almost dawn, leaving Meifeng and the river melody skylark trying to outdo each other in who had the most flare and splendor when singing. 

Yang Qing couldn't help but laugh when he recalled that Meifeng never let go of the communication talisman all through the night. She even called Yang Qing over a dozen times with it just to confirm it was functional and to feed the excitement of owning a communication talisman.

"Maybe giving it to her was a mistake.." he muttered with a shake of his head as he took out his talisman to see Meifeng calling.

Lacking the heart to reject the call, Yang Qing picked up, and like the dozen times before, the call was just Meifeng rumbling in excitement that she had a communication talisman and how novel it was.

She even impatiently asked Yang Qing to rush to the branch so she could test the range of the talisman.

Yang Qing laughed in defeat as he made his way to the branch, however that laugh was frozen when he saw Luo Meili outside the branch with four people in tow who had different robes.

"Meili.." he hesitantly called out.

"Boss!.... Good, you're here. We have a case.." Luo Meili pleasantly said as she turned to greet him.

"Good.." Yang Qing answered with an awkward smile trying to mask the twitch in his eye.

Right about now, feeding Meifeng's communication talisman frenzy didn't seem so bad in comparison.