Daily life of a cultivation judge

Yang Qing pulled his mind from the worrying thoughts as he focused back on the recording.

"But even with such an aptitude... Mingli, remember what I have always told you? Make sure you discern your heart always and confront the villains within, if you do, then the heights you reach will exceed what you or I could ever imagine.

But if you don't... There have been countless sons and daughters of destiny who left this world all too early. I don't want you to be among those numbers.

Act prudently, son, and above all, as a father, my hope for you is you live to the joys of your heart, whatever that may be, mine was marrying your mother, and being a father to you, as for you, whatever it is, know this, as long as its something close and dear to you, I will always cheer you on to attain it.

I left something with your mother. I had hoped to be the one to personally hand it to you, but with things as they are I think your mother should handle it. She's always been meticulous and the wisest person I know. Make sure to follow and trust her arrangements.

I love you both, and who knows, maybe we might get to see each other again when I break through to the palace realm.

Hehehe, I hope you're not laughing at your old man for saying that. Back when I was wooing your mother, my mind went blank and I ended up blabbing one of the deepest desires of my heart during that gut-wrenching fear.

She might have taken it as just the bragging ramblings of a youth trying to look good, but the words I said back then were true then and are still true now; It's my dream to reach the palace realm and sail among the skies like the figure who saved my life.

I know the flaws I made during my early years make it difficult and unlike you Mingli'er, I don't have the highest of aptitudes, but I hope to one day step into that mystical realm. Maybe the border might give me just that opportunity.

I have been told that even though the border is fraught with dangers, there are countless treasures there, and even if my servitude here is due to special circumstances I can still earn merit points which I can redeem from the royal family.

Next time we meet maybe your old man will be a palace realm cultivator. I hope when we do meet you will be one too, Mingli'er.

Take care you two. Mingli watch over your mom for me in the meantime, will you? and Shan'er please don't throw our son in a pit filled with red-scale spiders, and if you really have to, because I know how he is sometimes, then at least don't let it go beyond two hours.

Be well you two, and Shan'er make sure you take Mingli to see where I was born. It might be good for him."

The recording stopped after those words, with Wu Mingli carefully storing away the slip in an ivory jade box before putting it away into his storage ring.

He took a deep single breath and then looked at his mother nodding to her in affirmation, before finally looking back to Yang Qing.

"While he did try to soften it and reduce the morbidity in it,as people closest to him, we knew that slip was his farewell to us. However, I do believe he was serious about hoping to become a palace realm expert, but the undertone within it wasn't that of someone speaking his ambitions but of someone expressing his regret.

It was the admission of someone who knew he was never going to achieve one of his dreams, and the reason for that failure had nothing to do with his flawed foundations or talent or external factors, but rather, he knew he would not be alive to attempt it.

Six weeks after he was apprehended, a soldier came to our home and informed us of his passing. The cause, he had died from the attack of a core formation expert from Five Clover Kingdom who self-detonated after being encircled.

That detonation not only took my father's life but the lives of 800 other soldiers from the Red Maple Empire.

I don't know how they came up with the figure,maybe they felt such a number would be able to make the news they delivered, slightly palatable..." Wu Mingli said with a sardonic smile.

"It worked... for a bit..." Wu Mingli added as his smile turned cold.

"It would have continued to work longer if that had been the real story..." Wu Mingli's gaze drifted slightly to Duan Hu before shifting back to Yang Qing.

"Before that bombshell was dropped on us, in those two months, I had tried to mobilize any help I could to try and reverse the decision made about my father.

In my naivety, I thought if enough voices spoke out about the unjust decision made against my father, it might maybe touch important people who may then speak at his behest and have him released from his fate.

With how many people my father helped over the years and the reputation he had built, I assumed those willing to speak up for him would be many. But the reality was different. I realized the ugliness of this world that day.

People will celebrate with you when things are going good for you, but the moment things go bad they will quickly desert you like the plague.

Our home ... me ... my mother ... we became that plague not a day less than the day my father got taken. Whether it was our neighbors or those 'friends' who so liked to call my father benefactor.

Before, all they kept saying was how they wanted to repay my father in whatever way to pay back a little bit on what he did for them, but when I called them on it, it was like they didn't even know who my father was, or what he did for them, there were even some who had the gall to try and turn on us so they could curry favor with the Green Dragon General Store.

They were all quick to draw the line between us and them. Not that I blame them, after all, their actions were a symptom of the extreme rot in the Empire, where those with good hearts live and die like dogs while fiends live like emperors..."