Daily life of a cultivation judge

Yang Qing flooded with countless insights walked over to where Ma Yuan and his daughter.

"Yang Qing.." said Ma Yuan with pleasant excitement in his tone when he caught Yang Qing out of the corner of his eyes as he was moving the royal crown maple sapling.

"Senior Yang Qing.." Ma Ling said as she clumsily tried to cup her fists in greeting.

"You seem to be doing better.." Yang Qing said as his gaze fell on Ma Ling.

"It's thanks to senior Tan Jue..."

Despite her clear nervousness, when she mentioned Tan Jue, her excitement and respect shone through.

Though Ma Yuan didn't say anything, Yang Qing could tell he felt the same way too.

He wasn't sure if she had regained some of her memories yet and he wasn't about to ask but Yang Qing could tell she seemed to be growing more and more comfortable around Ma Yuan than she did the last time she was here.

Yang Qing could tell from how relaxed her body seemed to be from the moment he walked into the abode, and even now, he wasn't sure if she did it subconsciously or intentionally but because of her nervousness, she moved close to Ma Yuan almost as if to seek his protection like what young children did every time they were with their parents and they happen to meet someone they were unfamiliar. On reflex, they would seek cover behind their parent.

"It's only been a few days but this place seemed to have transformed yet again.." Yang Qing said as he looked around him.

"I am sorry, I couldn't help myself. The environment here is just too good. I try to control myself but I'm continuously filled with countless ideas and inspirations on what else to add, and this place.." Ma Yuan paused as he sighed in admiration.

"This place seems to support every wild idea that I have and it all feels so natural. I don't think I've ever felt this way. I've always enjoyed discovering new herb species, and caring for young saplings to maturity.."

Ma Yuan's eyes fell slightly on Ma Ling as he said that.

"Being on a piece of land, planting, harvesting.. it's where I feel most alive, but this, I can't explain it.. It feels like I am living in a dream of something that goes beyond my greatest fantasies kind of like how I felt when I grew my first earth-rank herb and first sky-rank herb, only in this, that feeling of discovering something monumental doesn't stop and the more I keep going the more wonderous that feeling becomes...

Sorry, I am rambling.." Ma Yuan said as he scratched the back of his head in embarrassment.

"No, it's okay. I understand the sentiment all too well, having lost myself to it a lot of times.." Yang Qing said as he saw the colorful waves of light floating around his abode.

He has lost himself one too many times to the mysteries of the world around him, whether it was a phenomenon as what he was seeing happening in his abode, a broken cultivation art begging him to restore it to its former glory, an artifact whose origins trace it to a bygone era, treasures with tales around them.

Whenever his interest was piqued, he could hardly tear himself away from it which always landed him in no small amount of trouble. Half of the fines he got for coming late or skipping a day or three of work were because something had caught his eye and he easily lost himself to it. It was why he severely restricted himself on his visits to the library or the treasure vaults. He knew how weak he was within those halls, and Lei Weiyuan probably did too.

Yang Qing quickly diverted his thoughts from the old fiend when he felt a heartburn coming up.

Right now he had better things to do than figure out how Lei Weiyuan always seemed to know the days he would be late or absent. Seeing the interconnection happening in his abode, and the transformation happening to Ma Yuan, Yang Qing had a few ideas he wanted to test out.

"Ma Yuan, how is your body feeling?" asked Yang Qing.

"Pretty good actually, better than I have felt in a while.." Ma Yuan said as he stretched a few stretches of his arms with a refreshed smile on his face that was a result of how limber his body felt.

Ever since he had his cultivation crippled, his body never felt the same. It felt heavy like he was lagging tonnes of meteor iron in his muscles. Though he knew it was his imagination, he could sometimes feel his bones creak under that weight every time he overly exerted himself.

But since he started working on Yang Qing's compound, his body felt lighter and lighter. It was the most comfortable he had felt in his skin.

As he worked, with the growing relief in his body, he often found himself wondering if the reason his body was changing was because it was no longer under the pressures of the maddening obsession and torment he had been struggling to endure for the past seven years, especially that voice, that voice that grew in strength and persuasion the longer the search remained fruitless. The voice that kept telling him, each day, beguiling his mind, showing him visions and prophecies, with undeniable certainty, his wife and daughter were likely dead, and died a brutal death at that.

He did lose his wife, but the worst did not happen, his daughter yet lives even though she treated him as a stranger, a consequence of the memory-altering gu.

Her being with him, could she be the reason that his body felt better? Or was it because he was finally doing something he loved, farming? His sight and mind no longer colored by hatred, desperation, and self-loathing. Other than his wife and daughter, herbology was the greatest thing in his life. It changed his life after all, from a no-name orphan to a core formation cultivator who had achieved a gold body, and eventually led him to one of the two greatest treasures in his life, Ma Ling's mom.

"Maybe it's Ling'er and the farm.." wistfully thoughtMa Yuan as he smiled in gratification when he saw his daughter eagerly reaching her hand out to one of the aqua butterflies wearing the same childlike expression of excitement she wore every time she saw something exciting. Her pale blue eyes would shine just like her mother's.

Her mother wasn't the best at showing expression. She only had two, one was the deadpan expression that showed nothing, and the other which Ma Yuan took great pride in, despite how much he suffered for it, was anger. Over the years, he had angered her a few times, not intentionally of course, but it soon became intentional when he saw how reactive she was. It was the only time she truly wore her emotions and Ma Yuan relished it as he diligently looked for ways to trigger her. He suffered for it, but it was well worth it.

Other than anger, he grew to notice other things too, like excitement, and her eyes would twinkle in the same manner as his daughter's.

His thoughts were soon interrupted by Yang Qing.

"Ma Yuan, I need your help with something.."

"Anything... As long as I, Ma Yuan can do it, I will not hesitate.." Ma Yuan said with enthusiasm.

Yang Qing couldn't help but dryly laugh at his reaction.

"It's not something serious. It's related to the changes happening in your body.."

At Ma Yuan's questioning look, Yang Qing gave him a brief description of the scene he saw which was still ongoing. The flow of essence to Ma Yuan's body from the living components around him was still kept up at a gradual pace, and the royal crown maple sapling that released sentiments of content was the new member to join that circle as even it shared little of what it had to Ma Yuan.

"Such a thing is happening?" Ma Yuan said with an incredulous expression on his face. He turned his head around to try and see if he could see the scene Yang Qing described but eventually gave up when he couldn't sense anything.

But still, even without seeing it himself he couldn't help but feel gratified as he smiled with his right hand over his chest, displaying the rogue cultivator community's sign of gratitude as he said the words thank you, to the plants, insects, and birds and other living components around him.

Ma Yuan's eyes couldn't help but redden slightly. He had been living in the abyss for so long, that saplings and pupas showing kindness was enough to shake him emotionally.

"No...No ...No.. Ma Yuan keep it together, you can't let Ling'er see you like this.."

Ma Yuan tried to reign in his emotions by hurriedly agreeing to whatever Yang Qing wanted to test.

"What do you need me to do?" asked Ma Yuan.

"Nothing much, just continue as you were and pretend I am not there. I will try the process from there.." Yang Qing said as he moved to the green flame tree where he sat cross-legged, quickly immersing himself in the flow of life essence around.

"Universal Light Resonant Creatures."

A pure light almost like a light of creations filled with multitudinous colors was released from Yang Qing's body filled with the densest aura of life that left both Ma Yuan and Ma Ling wide-eyed.