Daily life of a cultivation judge

Yang Qing cleared his mind and continued to read about the Shi family. As he read further he discovered that the Shi family had been stagnating in their alchemy skills and were slowly being pushed away from the scene by a rival clan, the Luo clan which though had a shorter history in comparison to the Shi family, had already caught up to them and exceeded them to the point they had even garnered the cooperative deals with a few prominent organizations with one of them even being the rank 2, Maple leaf manor.

The then clan leader, afraid that his clan would lose out to the Luo clan, accepted the Zhou Clan's offer to venture into the Deer Mountain Range. The range was already known for its rich resources, it was just that the spirit beasts that called the place home deterred most from venturing into the place. There were even rumors back then about a domain expert dying within it which made most human cultivators wary of visiting the place.

The Shi clan leader out of a deep sense of crisis and determination to help his family move forward, journeyed to the Deer Mountain Range without hesitation.

As for the remaining two families, while he had been more curious about the Shi family because they seemed to have more resources and a huge web of connections, his judgment had been off as it turned out that amongst the six families, the Song family was the one with the deepest background.

Within the information, the author surmised that the other families likely did not know about the true background of the Song family, and after reading through their story, Yang Qing supported that guess too.

The Song family had been part of the now-known Deng Dynasty, but 200,000 years ago, it went by a different name, the Song Dynasty, a rank 2 empire in its heyday, which it presently was still, but under a different name. The Song family presently resided in the Deer Mountain Range as one of the large noble clans within the Deer Mountain Kingdom but it had once been the ruling family of the Song Empire. However, their position had been usurped, not by the Deng family who currently ruled the Empire they called theirs once upon a time, but by one of their own, a branch of their family.

When tragedy strikes, it comes in waves. The Deer Mountain Kingdom Song family was the main branch of the Song family in the Song dynasty, however, they had their position as the main branch taken away when they were at their weakest. The Song dynasty had feuded with two other empires because of a precious grotto that had appeared at the boundary between the three Empires.

The grotto in question had the same spiritual density as a mature dragon vein, and above all, it had a purple pith profound stone mine. Purple pith profound stone was over a thousand times better than even the purest spirit stone, as it contained pure energy that was even purer than the natal qi one was born with. A single drop of its energy is enough to push a body refinement cultivator to the peak stage of the foundation establishment realm in a single-bound and with firm foundations to boost, with even those with the poorest talents ending up with blue-grade foundation pillars.

Purple pith profound stone was capable of turning that which was rotten into a precious gem. It not only improved one's cultivation, but it also had a way of unearthing hidden physiques in one's body and improving the purity of one's bloodline, there was even a rumor of a cultivator who upon refining 20 purple pit profound stones he was able to completely awaken his azure roc bloodline transforming into a true roc.

The reason it had such profound effects was because it contained traces of the chaos aura which was rumored to be the aura present when the planet was formed. The purple pith profound stone contained countless mysteries and profundities that would serve a cultivator well for their entire cultivation journey. The mysteries of the stone served as an illuminating light on their path, which was why when news broke out of the grotto having a purple pith profound stone, the three empires that bordered it, immediately shed all pretense of cordiality, attacked each other without reservation.

Whoever controlled that grotto would ascend to glory in one fell swoop. The war was violent and devastating on all sides, with no one leaving it unscathed. The main branch of the Song family committed almost all of its manpower to the efforts, which ended up in the death of three of their five domain experts, with the remaining two gravely injured in the process.

The other two empires did not leave unscathed either, with them facing similar levels of causality. A ceasefire was forcibly called when it became evident that outside forces had been eyeing that grotto, and were just waiting for the three empires to damage one another enough for them to swoop in and seize it all for themselves.

By the time the ceasefire was called, the blood feud ran deep among the three empires, and not one wanted to give in to the other, making cooperation very difficult even with countless powerful vultures lurking, waiting for the opportune moment. The three empires only managed to agree because of the involvement of the Sixteen Heavenly Stars Treasure Pavilion which was a rank 1 merchant organization at the same level as the White Rose Pavilion.

With them standing as a witness, the three empires agreed on how to share the grotto and its resources, with no doubt the Sixteen Heavenly Stars Treasure Pavilion having some shares in it not only for its services as the witness but also as a protective cover for the three empires that lacked a soul formation expert. To protect themselves against rank 1 organizations, allying with one was the only way, and it came at a cost that they gladly paid.

But even with the war ending, its effects still lived, more so to the ruling families of these empires who committed all they could as they stood to gain much more if things went their way. After the war, one of the remaining two domain experts from the Song main branch succumbed to his injuries and died, leaving only one. The main branch had thought even with the losses they had suffered they had nothing to worry about because they had more domain experts in their branches, only for years later for the branches to turn on them and seize the throne.

The last surviving domain expert sacrificed his life and created an escape path for the main branch, even then not many escaped as it wasn't only the side branches that turned on them but the other noble families within the Song dynasty did so too.

Luckily for them, the side branches were too busy trying to stabilize the situation in the Empire to go after them. The Empire was fragmented for a while as the Song side branches and the other major noble families all tried to get their hands on the throne and by default, access to the grotto.

However, in the end, it was a dark horse in the name of the Deng family that stood over the rest when a one-in-a-million genius appeared among their descendants who tore through all opposition in just a decade with the Song family being the biggest step stone to his rise as he eviscerated them root and stem, which turned out to be a blessing for the main branch who were in hiding, always afraid of being pursued by the branch family.

Eventually, the members of the main branch split into different groups with one of the groups making its way to the barren hinterlands that were at the border of the Deer Mountain Range.