Daily life of a cultivation judge

Once she had come to a decision, Tan Lafen turned to face Yang Qing, though her attention was on the two domain experts present in Lei Weiyuan and Hou Dehui.

"Might I say a few words?" she asked solemnly.

"If it's anything related to the case in any way, then we all defer to him. As for me and Lei here, we are nothing but guests and observers.." said Hou Dehui, still casual and relaxed as when he appeared.

"The court welcomes what you have to say.." said Yang Qing when the attention was on him.

"Thank you for your consideration and tolerance... I may have not known the exact particulars of what my son has been to all these years, but through my imprint, I had some ideas, and now seeing the dense haunted slaughter qi around him, his crimes must be egregious and unpardonable.." Tan Lafen said as her gaze lingered slightly on Shen Mu before moving back to Yang Qing.

In her vision, Shen Mu was surrounded by a baleful mist of blood, and within that mists were mournful wails and faces filled with grief and anguish all clambering in desperation as they tried to use the cloak of baleful mist surrounding Shen Mu as a pathway to reach Shen Mu himself and claim what they owed him.

The life of cultivators wasn't devoid of bloodshed, even saints had a little blood on their hands. That was how combative and chaotic the world of cultivators was leading to some developing a variant type of aura and qi around them like slaughter qi.

Long-time combatants like generals, and veteran soldiers, the longer they remained in combat, inevitably their qi would change into a slaughter qi to adapt to the lives they led. The slaughter qi they acquired could be considered a natural adaptation they got so they could survive in the environment they were in.

It was almost guaranteed for every soldier to acquire it the longer they remained in a combat-rich environment. It wasn't just soldiers, those who lived in an environment where they had to fight with their lives on the line every single day would end up developing slaughter qi.

The slaughter qi they get is to augment and assist them to survive in such an environment as much as possible. It would make their attacks sharper and deadlier; It was much more explosive compared to regular qi and it would continually strengthen their bodies in terms of vigor and vitality.

Slaughter qi would continue to grow in strength and purity the longer one lived in such an environment, which was the reason most generals would never leave the battlefield or cultivators who chose to continue living in a perilous environment despite the apparent dangers to their lives.

The more developed their slaughter qi became, the more the harvests they would gain from it such as refining a pure killer intent that functioned similarly to saber, spear, sword, or fist intent. Of course, despite its apparent advantages, it was still risky to improve oneself using slaughter intent, other than having constantly risking your life to improve, the biggest issue when it came to slaughter qi was its volatile nature that eroded the user's mind the more powerful it became.

Without sufficient willpower, slaughter qi would eat away at the mind of the user essentially transforming them into a frenzied being that existed purely for slaughter absent of any form of rationality. It was why many empires and kingdoms devised meditation techniques and other means that made up for that weakness.

But what Shen Mu had was something different. He had slaughter qi around him but it was deemed impure and that impurity came from slaughtering innocents, those weaker than himself and those without karmic entanglements. To the natural dao, this was an unrighteous slaughter and would not give its stamp of approval. If it wasn't for the amulet Tan Lafen had handed him which kept it at bay, without a fiendish art, Shen Mu would have soon been swallowed by the baleful haunted qi around him and be subjected to the greatest torment he had ever endured as those resent filled specters tore away at his mind and flesh in a bid to possess him while subjecting him to the greatest torment unimaginable.

Luckily he came to his senses and birthed a saber intent which not only strengthened his cultivation base and spirit but was also able to keep that baleful qi at bay.

..

"I may not know what he did, but his crimes are not light.... You see, whoever he became, he wasn't originally that way.. As a child, he was a kind and considerate child who dreamed of protecting and taking care of his parents and the entire village up to their old age.."

Tan Lafen paused as she cast a tender gaze at Shen Mu, seeing the little child who would swing a wooden saber she made him, with a righteous aura around him as he said he would defeat the evils of the world with that saber.

She sighed in regret,as she turned to face Yang Qing once more, leaving the guilt-ridden Shen Mu.

"Whatever he became, I'm to blame for it.."

"No, you are not! I made those choices... all because I couldn't handle the weight of being weak... It wasn't your fault.." vehemently said Shen Mu.

"If I didn't leave you behind, you would have never had to do what you did. So, of course, I am to blame. The sins of the parent are not the sins of the child but in certain aspects, the sins of the child are the sins of the parent.

I know and I have seen personally how unforgiving this world truly is and yet I left an eight-year-old child to fend for himself in that world. I was too focused on my affairs that I handled everything poorly, there was a lot I could have done differently and because I didn't, here we are.

What's done is done, the past is gone, all I can do is try and affect the present...

Judge, I am not asking for his crimes to be forgiven but I am begging for you to leave him a path to life. I am willing to do anything to that end including donating my entire fortune and myself to the Order to use as you will.

All I ask ....and beg is you spare my child. Please!" Tan Lafen said, her emotions showing clearly on her face for the first time.

"Mother.." tongue stricken, whatever retort Shen Mu had evaporated on seeing his mother pleading for him.

"Your son will not be executed and it's not because of the offer you have made. If we changed our rulings based on such offers we would lose all credibility of impartiality. So, please don't make such an offer again.

Your son will live, he may never see the light of day again until his last breath, but he will live and the price of that is him sharing everything he knows. That is more than enough.." Yang Qing gently said.

"H..e is going to live? Mu'er?"Tan Lafen muttered in surprise. She had expected for her offer to be rejected with her son's fate all but sealed for execution. Such a thick baleful mist surrounding him, she expected death for his crimes. Him being spared of that was a surprise to her and to a deal he made no less.

Smiling, Shen Mu said,

"Thank you for shielding me, Mother, but let me handle it from here. It's my mess to clean.."

Tan Lafen absentmindedly nodded, still slightly dazed from the whole thing. Then when she came to, she requested Yang Qing to allow her to be there for the proceedings, which he agreed. With her presence, Hou Dehui and Lei Weiyuan remained.