Daily life of a cultivation judge

With its role completed, the torchbug was dismissed but not before it sought guidance on its earlier request. With reluctance, Mei Xiling nodded to which the torchbug buzzed around her with excitement before flying over to the ceramic jar containing yin jade spirit liquid. As a fellow lover of food, Yang Qing couldn't help but nod in approval at the torch bug's firmness in its endeavor.

One must never forget what it is they labor so hard for. It is what makes the whole thing seem worthwhile and to him, food was one of those things that stirred him on in his endeavors, well that and petty vengeance, though food still held an edge over petty vengeance.

Pushing his motivations for working aside, Yang Qing brought his attention back to the case, inwardly feeling glad to have gotten Mei Xiling's help with the case. The way she handled it was just stellar, leaving no room for doubt. Yang Qing couldn't have done it any better himself.

...

Mei Xiling took out two flowers from two earth jade boxes. One of the flowers was a sunflower that released a sacred golden white light that had a cleansing, pure, and divine aura to it. Anyone with even a slight impure thought would feel insecure and ashamed when their gazes fell on it, and it was evident when the majority of the group from the Chen family and the owner of the Red Flaming Lotus Alchemy Pavilion all looked down when Mei Xiling removed the flower from the earth jade case.

The flower in question was the sacred cleansing sunflower. It was a rare spiritual herb that had purifying properties. It had unique properties which was why it went by another name, 'the flower of natural balance' it was called.

With its purifying or cleansing nature, it could detoxify a lot of toxins, but that was only if the toxin was manufactured. It had zero effects on naturally occurring poisons.

To anything artificial, it was a divine medicine, but to things that are naturally occurring, it was utterly useless and was no different than a useless herb by the roadside. Its cleansing abilities only worked on things that it deemed impure, and what it deemed impure was what the natural dao classified as unnatural.

Yang Qing nodded his head in approval when he saw the flower. It was perfect for the case. Of its purifying abilities was its ability to break down a potion into its constituent components, which was perfect for using on the potions Mei Xiling had collected from the Red Flaming Lotus Alchemy Pavilion and the Chen family.

The other flower was a pristine white flower whose petals had closed shut. It exuded an air of grace, elegance, and fragility, almost as if it would disintegrate at the slightest touch.

The flower's current docile look was heavily misleading which was why despite how it looked, Song Ba, Chen Zian, and a couple of other elders from the Chen all showed looks of fear and apprehension when the flower was revealed. The fear they felt was one that a prey felt whenever they felt they were in the presence of a predator as it indeed they were.

The flower in question was the bleeding petal devouring venus flower and it devoured just about anything. Its essence and nature resembled that of a taotie, except unlike the latter it didn't have an unsatiable appetite, but just like the taotie it could extract nourishment from just about anything, be it living or non-living.

It could eat a rock and extract its nutrients the same way as it could when it consumed a spirit stone. What they called food was long. A lot of alchemists and blacksmiths liked keeping one around as they were the best decomposers. Any failed products they produced could be fed to the bleeding petal-

devouring venus flower for decomposition which would then produce condensed and refined essence of whatever was fed to it in the form of crystals. Most were just pure elemental crystals.

However, the reason it was called the bleeding petal devouring venus flower wasn't that it could decompose things, the reason Chen Zian and the rest all looked nervous around was that as much as it could devour anything, it had certain things that it liked to devour more than the rest and one of those things were cultivators be it human, beast, plants or even artifacts that had budding spirits.

As long as it could cultivate, that thing would be at the top of the flower's must-devour list, and the flower Mei Xiling had brought out was at the palace realm. Even though Mei Xiling had sealed every part of it except its awareness and its desire to consume cultivators, some part of it still leaked out, which left those weaker than it in an alarmed state especially, the 'more powerful preys' in Chen Zian, Song Ba and the Chen elders present.

Whenever it devoured said cultivators the pristine white petals would turn color and start bleeding out red droplets hence the name bleeding petal devouring venus flower.

"Quit it or else.." coldly said Mei Xiling, reigning in the flower's unruly behavior bringing a much-welcomed relief to Chen Zian and the rest.

Ignoring the discomfort the rest felt as she carried that 'flower fiend' and the sacred cleansing sunflower, Mei Xiling went to the jade table, and produced four potions.

"These four potions match some of these potions here like the ripple aqua drip and the magma vein insight potion. I brewed them myself..."

She uncorked one of the potions and poured half its content onto the sacred cleansing sunflower, and the remaining half was poured onto the bleeding petals devouring venus flower which opened its petals as if it was opening its mouth as it gulped down the potion. In the end, it even burped as its petals curled up in a human-like satisfied grin.

The light released by the sacred cleansing sunflower instantly disintegrated the potion into different colored liquids, the colors being blue, green, earth orange, and a touch of silver which was a reflection of the elemental nature of the ingredients used in the potion.

When it came to the bleeding petals devouring venus flower, small finger-sized crystals that matched the same colors as that of the sacred cleansing sunflower were produced.

"If blood or human essence was used in the production of this potion, the petals of the bleeding petals devouring venus flower would have dripped with bloodline liquid and when it comes to the sacred cleansing sunflower, its light would have vaporized the entire potion deeming it impure, and the impurity would be all that is left behind in the aftermath.."