Daily life of a cultivation judge

"With her temperament, if she had a better background, there is no doubt that her heights would have definitely exceeded mine.." Wu Mingli thought as his gaze fell on his mother before a resolute glint flashed in his eyes.

"Master did say there are treasures capable of doing stupendous things to the point of even undoing past mistakes. There is no lack of treasures capable of reforming and transforming one's body. The only issue is their rarity.

Once I reach the palace realm, opportunities to find those treasures will grow. Soon enough I will be able to repay you a fraction of all you have given me.."  Wu Mingli thought as he gently looked at his mother.

While her circumstances were not as bad as his father's who was born in some village in some wilderness somewhere, his mother was born in the first town his father got stationed at as a garrison guard. While the town was moderately better than the village his father grew up in, it wasn't by much.

The town was a border town, and not highly populated or invested like the towns closer to the center of the Empire were. In loose terms, one could consider it a high-ranking village with a little bit of infrastructure and the Empire's influence on it.

Her mother was born there, to a father who was a blacksmith that made unranked weapons, and her mother was a semester. None of them ever cultivated past the qi refinement realm, and in terms of means, they didn't have the ability or know-how to provide their daughter with ample cultivation resources and guidance.

Just like his father, she ended up with flawed foundations too that hampered her journey forward. Had it not been for Wu Mingli's current station, she would have likely halted at the foundation establishment realm just like his father.

However, even with the countless resources, whatever was currently available to him could at most help her reach the middle stages of the core formation realm. Anything past that would prove almost impossible. His only option now was to search for those treasures that could mend those flaws or give her a chance to undo them.

But treasures that were capable of doing such a thing, at the very least were dao treasures. This meant they were difficult to get for a quasi-palace stage expert, and even if he broke through, the degree of difficulty may lessen slightly but it would still be there.

No matter the degree of difficulty, Wu Mingli had resolved himself to do whatever it took to get them. If being a palace stage cultivator wasn't enough then he would try for the domain realm.

Because of her improved cultivation realm, his mother could now live for at least another 3,500 years. If it took him 252 years to reach the quasi-palace stage, he hoped 3,500 years would be more than enough time for him to make that attempt to reach the domain. He was under no illusions about the enormity of the task, but he had to do it somehow.

Cultivators were blessed with enormous lifespans which could be a blessing or a curse, depending on how one looked at it. He didn't cultivate this hard all so he could end up alone.

If you had the strength to bring those that mattered to you to rise those heights with you, why wouldn't you do it?

Most said cultivating was defying the heavens, but was it? He always felt that was an erroneous thought somehow.

To him, cultivating was just another aspect of living. Cultivation was like a mirror and guiding light at the same time. It helped reflect what was in your heart and at the same time it helped illuminate doubts and expand your understanding of oneself through extrapolation of what was around you and within you.

Its goal wasn't to make one detached from all life but to sensitize and integrate one to all forms it takes and for him, his mother was a huge part of his and he would do everything to ensure it.

Whatever aspirations he had, none of it made any sense to him without his mother there, but first, he had to sort out some matters, one of which was to give his father a proper send-off as a dutiful son should, something he had not been able to do back then.

Pulling his thoughts back, Wu Mingli continued with his testimony.

"The night passed without incident. If I knew it would have been our last, I would have savored it more because when morning came, our lives as we knew it, got upended. Just when dawn hit, there were two people already at our door.

One of them was the captain of the Spring Plum city guards, and the other was the overall commander of all the city guards who handled the territories that were directly under the control of the royal family.

Both the captain and the commander were descendants of the Duan royal family and as for the reason why such an impressive lineup was at the doors of some foundation establishment city guard that early in the morning, it was to take my father in custody, though that was not how they put it back then..." Wu Mingli paused to contain himself.

That morning was the last time he ever saw his father.

"When they came they said they were there to confirm the version of events from my father and confirm a few details because of the sensitivity of the matter. At the time, I didn't think to question the absurdity of it.

There were countless witnesses there, over hundreds of them saw what Ding Xiaoli did, and what happened after. There was no need to come that early in the morning just to confirm the details.

They had a discussion with my father in the backyard whose details I don't know. The discussion was a private one between the three, and after, my father left with them, not before deceiving me that everything was okay, they were just going to finish up the remaining matter at the city guard offices.

It was only when dusk arrived and I still had not heard from him that I realized something was off. Just as I was about to head to their offices, the captain came back, but he was alone this time.

It was he who informed my mother and I, that to protect my father from further retaliation, he would have to be sent to the border frontline where the war between the empire and the Five Clover Kingdom was happening.

By his words, they had reached a compromise with the store owner of the Green Dragon General Store, and in that compromise, the city guards agreed they would relieve my father of his duties as a guard, and he would be transferred to the border as a soldier, a post he would serve until his very last breath.

Only this way could they guarantee his life..."