Daily life of a cultivation judge

"So that's what happened to them?" Fan Ha said as she sighed lightly unable to hide the sadness in her eyes from hearing the fate that befell the obsidian serpent couple.

"You knew them?" asked Yang Qing.

Fan Ha nodded slightly.

"They admired my elder sister, especially Bai Su," Fan Ha said, referencing the female obsidian couple.

"Other than my elder sister, I have known them longest," Fan Ha added, her gaze flashing with complicated emotions.

"When I left they didn't have a child though I knew they always wanted one, more Bai Zhen than Bai Su, but they were not successful at it ... A small part of their failures had to do with Bai Su who always felt inferior and was thus fraught with worry that her failings would extend to her child.

A thought that terrified her. With how much of a hold it had on her, I was sure they would go all their lives without one, but then... life makes fools of us all at times," she said as she smiled pitifully.

Yang Qing couldn't add anything to the somber mood but his silent nod.

"But at least they have each other and their lives, despite the circumstances they are in. Thank you for showing them mercy, " Fan Ha said as she cupped her fists in gratitude.

"I am glad that I haven't lost more friends," she added with a genuine gladdened smile that had a touch of weariness to it.

Yang Qing let out a sigh of his own, clasping his hands together as he did.

"It wasn't out of mercy. Though I sympathize with the situation they were put under, if the decision had been left to me, they would not be here today, luckily it wasn't," Yang Qing softly said.

"I am still thankful nonetheless,"

"Very well," Yang Qing said as he nodded.

"When you asked about Jiang Xiang, was it because you suspected him to be behind in the tragedy that befell the Bai couple's daughter?" asked Fan Ha, quickly changing tact, which reflected also on her bearing.

Her wisened years filled with experience immediately shone through as she quickly connected the dots on Yang Qing's question.

Yang Qing seeing no need to hide it, admittedly nodded his head as he answered,

"There were very few people who knew about the daughter's evolution. Maybe there could have been someone there that day spying on them, who knows, but for now, my list of suspects falls on those who were there.

That evolution is why their daughter was targeted in the first place and from how it looks, it doesn't seem like something that happened out of sheer coincidence with someone accidentally stumbling on her.

We all know how precious the treasure bone of a flood dragon is, more so..." Yang Qing paused slightly ruminating how best to phrase the next words.

Luckily he didn't have to as Fan Ha completed the words for him.

"A freshly evolved flood dragon that hasn't yet gained full control of the abilities of one."

"Precisely," Yang Qing said with a somber look to him.

"What I wanted is to get a feel of who Jiang Xiang was, and whether he was someone capable of selling them out,"

"Why would he do that though? After going through all the trouble of helping with the evolution in the first place,"

"It's the part I can't make sense of yet, hence why I am asking about him. Putting down the foundation circle took considerable resources, effort, and time. When you were around did you know him to be close with the couple or the fire adler bear?" asked Yang Qing.

He had posed the same question to the obsidian serpent couple who mentioned their relationship with Jiang Xiang to be a casual one, but Yang Qing took their response with a large serving of salt.

Considering the mess they had created, they would be more inclined to lie about their relationship with the eclipse spiritweaving fox, especially if their relationship was a close one, lest they run the risk of implicating him. While he may have not known the couple for long, he had them pegged as a loyal bunch.

Just as Fan Ha was about to answer, her attention was pulled to her side where Fan Cai sat, smiling sheepishly as he quickly shrunk his body under her calm stare. Fan Cai slowly scooted to the side with a disappointed look to him.

As the discussion between his mother and Yang Qing was ongoing, with how absorbed they seemed to be, Fan Cai had been slowly bridging the distance between him and his mother moving ever so close to her as they had still been seated in the same distance.

With someone who knew his and his mother's backstory, one would easily assume his act was that of a child longing and trying to sit close to his mother a consequence of almost losing her and not being around her often. While a bit of that sentiment was true, it wasn't the whole story behind his actions, a fact that was proved by the well-hidden regretful look he cast at the wine jar that the old sect master, Meng Jiayi, had left behind.

Luckily for him, everyone present decided to play dumb as to the motives behind his actions.

"Jiang Xiang and the couple couldn't exactly be considered closest of friends," Fan Ha started saying, saving Fan Cai from drowning in a river of awkwardness and embarrassment that was brought by the silence.

"The couple was one of the few within the range that didn't actively try to kill him because of his antics, and he could also freely roam around their territory. However, that had more to do with the respect they had for my elder sister than anything else.

As for the cu... I mean fire alder bear," Fan Ha said, quickly correcting herself from the familiar term she was used to.

With the fire adler bear already confirmed to be at the quasi-domain stage, she couldn't be as casual about him as she had been in the past. The memories and images she had of him aside, the instant he reached the quasi-domain expert he was deserving of her respect, similar to how she respected her elder sister.

Strength was the core metric of respect and seniority at the end of the day, be it among human cultivators or spirit beasts.

"Jiang Xiang and the fire adler bear, while they were close, that was only when they were cubs and even then it was more of a transactional partnership than anything. Each had their own agenda at the time.

The fire adler bear was trying to see if he could learn illusory techniques from Jiang Xiang to further his mischievous ends at the time, while Jiang Xiang was all too glad to have a guinea pig to train his arts on.

Each was gaining something on the deal, but who knows, it's been years since I have been at the range maybe their relationship became deeper with time," Fan Ha said with a nostalgic look coloring her face as she wondered how much the range had changed since she was there last.

It didn't take long for her eyes to regain its calm.

"I know this doesn't count as much considering how much time I have been away from there or my ensuing relationship with him, but I don't believe Jiang Xiang betrayed the Bai couple. He was born of the range," Fan Ha said with a certain level of irrevocable firmness and certainty to her.

"What makes you so sure?" asked Yang Qing with a look of interest showing.

"Your kind may term as barbaric because of how we devour each other, but to us, it's just another form of cultivation.

However much we may try to devour each other, and the complex relationships that are born as a result of it... I don't know about other places but at the range, we do not betray our own to outsiders.

No matter how deep the grudge, no spirit beast of the range will betray a fellow resident to a human cultivator or even other spirit beasts not from the range. It is something that has never happened nor will it ever.

I may have not been there for a while and as with time many things are likely to have changed, but I am sure that is the one thing that hasn't.

In my humble opinion, I don't think Jiang Xiang could have done it. While he may have changed with time, he is still born of the range. You don't stop being one when you leave, it is something that sticks with us all," Fan Ha said showing a rare look of passion in her.

"I will keep that in mind," Yang Qing said as he nodded his head.

"As thanks for your time and help, please accept this," Yang Qing added as he took out a cloudy jade that was cylindrical. Within that jade flowed an ethereal string of radiant light that shone in a multitude of colors.

Fan Ha's eyes widened in surprise as her eyes fell on the cloudy jade.

"This?"

She could feel a deep desire well within her as she stared into the colorful light. It was an intrinsic basal reaction of her body and soul craving for that light.

"This should more than restore the vitality you damaged and the hearts you gave Fan Cai," Yang Qing said, using secret transmission to do so, lest Fan Cai hear it.

"I couldn't possibly accept this. The information I provided isn't worth this at all and if we are going by debts, I am the one who owes you for what you did for me, my son, and the Starlight Lake Sect.

Judge Yang Qing, I can't in good conscience accept something as precious as this," Fan Ha said, with a fluster in her voice as she did, showing the deep struggle that was happening within her. It took a great deal of willpower to hold herself back from reaching out for the cloudy jade.

The jade before, specifically the colorful light within was like the most tantalizing meal being paraded in front of someone who had not eaten for days and Fan Ha could argue that the deep-seated desire that light evoked from her was even greater than that of the starving person.

Even without interacting with it, she already knew it would easily restore her missing hearts, and not only that it would even strengthen her remaining hearts and elevate their innate attributes. She could feel an ancient power lurking within the light harboring a transcendent law that seemed to call on the power of all the elements.

Something like that, to a nine-heart deer like her, was more precious than anything else. It was because it was so precious that she was so wary and hurriedly refused it, despite everything within her screaming for it. She had long learned there was nothing free in this world, and even if Yang Qing was someone from the Order, a supposed beacon for fairness and righteousness, Fan Ha had seen too much to risk it.

Yang Qing seeing through her wariness, produced a radiant light from the tip of his fingers which matched the nature of the ethereal light within the jade.

"Just like the information you provided was something you could casually offer, so is this jade to me," Yang Qing said as he brought the jade next to the hand that was dancing with ethereal radiant light. The radiant light within the cloud jade seemingly sensing the light dancing in Yang Qing's fingertips, lit up with an excitable nature to it like it had met a long-lost friend.

That reaction brought an even greater look of surprise to Fan Ha's face who inadvertently found herself reaching out for Yang Qing's hands.

"How is this possible?" she absentmindedly muttered as she used her fingers to parse through the dancing lights on Yang Qing's fingertips.

"It's real?!" she continued, her pitch raising slightly as she felt the power from the dancing lights course through her body through her fingers. She could feel her five hearts race in instant excitement, while the empty four heart cavities started pulsating after a long dormancy.