Daily life of a cultivation judge

Though he tried to hide it, Bai Chen looked startled by Yang Qing's question, and Yang Qing could have sworn he felt a faint killing intent flash in his eyes before he covered it up quickly.

"What's with the reaction?" wondered Yang Qing.

After regaining his calm, Bai Chen asked,

"Why do you ask?" though he seemed casual with the question, the wary undertone that lurked beneath it didn't evade Yang Qing's senses.

"There really is something there.." thought Yang Qing as he noted Bai Chen's strange reaction.

"I detected a bit of its aura as you slashed at the blood mist vulture. I have interacted with a few cultivators who cultivated an art from the scripture, and I have also cultivated one myself, it's a meditation art though. I was able to sense the similarities because of it.." said Yang Qing.

Yang Qing had stretched his truth a bit. While he had interacted with some of its arts such as the frostfire cultivation and the winter's embrace meditation art, he only did so back then to further his investigation into the techniques of the Ice Emerald Sect whose core art had also been part of the scripture.

From the list of victims they had attacked over the years, some had been because of their Yin physique, while others had been because they owned a cultivation art related to the Frozen Serenity Scripture. The Echo resonant sect had been one of those victims. They had an array belonging to the scripture, and though it was only a secondary array, it was a blue-grade array, and part of three secondary arrays which when combined would create a gold-grade array, the Frozen Temporal Seal.

Yang Qing had surmised the sect was not just collecting those techniques for the sake of collecting them and there had to be something hidden within them. He had been meaning to research further into it by researching the two arts the Order had in its possession, but he had not had as much free time to do so as he had hoped, and seeing it here again his interest couldn't help but be peaked.

The Frozen Serenity Scripture was an all-encompassing cultivation art that the countless talents and generations of Frozen Serenity Sect members had poured their lives into creating. Almost every type of cultivation was represented within the scripture from sword art, to saber art, to meditation art, to body and soul refinement art, to beast-taming art, to movement art, and other schools of cultivation that one could think of had all been blended into the Frozen Serenity Scripture.

Each of the individual arts was confirmed to be at least at the blue grade, and if multiple were combined like the array, the level could be raised. Each art though different, came from the same root. For those arts that could be combined, mastering one to perfection made it easier to master the other to the same standards in a shorter time.

His cultivation art collecting and dissection hobby tingled when he sensed its traces coming from Bai Chen which was why he couldn't help himself but seeing his reaction, Yang Qing couldn't help but regret the haste of his excitement.

The history of the Ice Emerlad Sect should have served as a reminder for him to be wary of asking about matters relating to the scripture.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to react that way.." Bai Chen said with a bitter smile.

"Sorry too, if I was out of bounds with my question.."

"No, it is perfectly okay. I think it's because I'm on this ship.." Bai Chen said as he looked around him with a nostalgic look on his face.

"Ever since I stepped foot on it memories of my past keep flooding in which has left me out of sorts slightly, but to answer your question, yes, it is an art from the Frozen Serenity Scripture, a sword art I got from the bluefi.. " Bai Chen paused mid-through his sentence as he shook his head with a smile before finally looking up.

"It is something I got from my mother.." he said, with a heartfelt smile.

"The Frozen Serenity Sect must have been quite something to create what they created. I haven't interacted much with other arts from the scripture other than the sword art I have, but the profundities contained within it I can hardly believe it's just a segmented part..

How about yours or the other arts you saw.."

"They were all profound..."

"Figured as much. I can't help but wonder why the Ice Emerald Sect dabbled in what they did when they had one too. It should have been more than enough to sustain and grow their sect for years and years to come.

I may be human, but I can never understand our kind.."

Yang Qing sighed at the mention of the Ice Emerald Sect as he said,

"Neither can I.."

On detecting the drop in mood, Bai Chen decided to change the topic as he asked Yang Qing how he found his accommodations, and once again invited him to the steering room to try and have a go, which Yang Qing happily obliged to lighten his heart before finally he felt well enough to head back to his chambers to continue with the list.

As he was heading back there was something that was gnawing at him and it was about Bai Chen. Even though he avoided the topic entirely, Yang Qing kept wondering what happened to the Bluefin spine-tailed swift that raised Bai Chen. Seeing his reaction, it stood to reason that she had passed. It was the circumstances that led to it that bothered Yang Qing, especially now that he knew Bai Chen cultivated an art from the Frozen Serenity Scripture.

There was a chance that the bluefin spine-tailed swift had been targetted because of it. The Ice Emerald Sect had been gathering the arts from that scripture for a reason, maybe it was for themself, or it was for that mysterious owner of the red abyssal thorn tree.

He didn't want his mind to go there, but he wondered if Bai Chen's mother had been one of the victims of the sect, and seeing Bai Chen's sensitivity to her, Yang Qing didn't want to broach the matter by asking for details about her.

Whatever doubts and guesses he had he would keep them to himself for now. He would only share his thoughts if he found an undeniable connection between the Ice Emerald Sect and the bluefin spine-tailed fin, and even then it would be after he confirmed it had something to do with the sword art she gave him.