Daily life of a cultivation judge

"Breaking through the Ning family's side was far bloodier than we anticipated," Xia Fang said, her voice shaking with a slight tremor. Of the countless horrid memories she had courtesy of the three clans, that particular memory definitely took the cake as one of the worst.

"The mountains, the rivers, the forests, the air, the buildings… everything was stained red with the blood of my clan members as they paved a path for us," she added somberly.

"Even with the element of surprise, we still couldn't escape paying a heavy price for our passage through their lands," she said, shaking her head.

"Even when I first heard the plan where my grandfather and the others estimated they likely wouldn't make it out and would have to trade their lives for ours—some part of me still thought…"

She paused, shaking her head again.

"Or rather, held on to a glimmer of hope that maybe we could all make it out together," she added, a pained smile tugging at her lips.

"I thought the suddenness of our attack might let us force our way through with minimal casualties," she said, shaking her head once more, a hollow chuckle escaping her."How naïve...," she softy added, admonishing herself.

"Even caught by surprise, the Ning family still proved far more than we could handle. They mowed down countless members of my clan."

"I still hear their voices, you know," she added suddenly, a haunted smile spreading across her face.

"We would have been wiped out to the last man if it weren't for the formation diagram's ultimate ability… which my grandfather used to carve a way out.

"But it cost him his life." Her voice dropped to a murmur.

Without waiting for Yang Qing to ask, Xia Fang continued. "I told you our founder was a formation master, but he was also a swordsman, and a gifted one at that. It was through his insights as a swordsman that he was able to comprehend the path of formations. So the formation diagram he left behind is an embodiment of both."

Yang Qing's eyes glimmered slightly at the revelation.

The fact that the founder could create a formation diagram already made him a remarkable talent in Yang Qing's eyes. But the added detail that he was a swordsman so skilled he could use his understanding of the sword to derive insights into another Dao, and do so while still at the core formation realm—only served to elevate his status even further.

"Because of the nature of its creator, the formation diagram can only be operated by sword users. The deeper your understanding of the sword, the stronger your synergy with it becomes, and the more power and abilities you can access from it. That's especially important when it comes to its final ability: sword intent possession," Xia Fang continued.

She paused a moment, collecting her thoughts to explain the concept clearly.

"Sword intent possession is exactly what it sounds like; it is being possessed by sword intent," she said.

Yang Qing could more or less guess what she meant but still asked, "What do you mean, exactly?"

"It's kind of like how fiendish cultivators can possess someone else's body," Xia Fang explained. "It's something like that."

"When our founder created the diagram, he used his sword intent as its foundational core and the framework around which the entire formation was built.

He did so to ensure that those who would become the core and the nodes of the formation diagram wouldn't completely lose out. They could use the insights contained within his intent to improve themselves. And while their limits would always be tied to the strength of the formation diagram, by drawing from his sword intent, they could establish sturdier and deeper foundations that would leave them stronger than, or at least equal to, their talented peers at the same realm," Xia Fang slowly explained.

"The nodes and cores benefited greatly from it. I heard that during our golden era, of the strongest experts we had at the time... in terms of ability that is, counted amongst them was that era's core," she added.

"Though our founder's intent was to make it up to those who would serve as nodes and cores, the richness of his sword intent ended up benefiting the rest of the clan too.

Those who weren't tied to the formation diagram directly could study it and gain tremendous benefits. And it was through that study, along with the notes he left behind, that they discovered the formation diagram could accommodate three more sword intents—besides the founder's."

She paused, and a faint smile appeared on her lips. Unlike the ones before, it wasn't hollow or pained.

"But, as was typical of our founder, there was a caveat to it," Xia Fang said.

"If the sword intent was too much weaker than his, it would be swallowed up by his sword intent. So whatever sword intent was used had to meet a certain threshold. It could only be a few levels weaker than his—but to guarantee success, it either had to be equal to or stronger than his.

In the years since he left that sword intent behind, only two people ever met that criteria. One was the clan patriarch during our golden era, and the other was a descendant who had joined the Silver Crane Sect.

Only those two ever managed to meet the founder's standards, leaving one slot still empty," Xia Fang said, her eyes gleaming with admiration and longing—before dimming with despair, as she realized she would never get the chance to see if her sword intent would gain the founder's approval.

Already familiar with the feeling of loss and despair, Xia Fang quickly reined in her thoughts and continued with the story.

"Those three intents were powerful to the point that they were no different from remnant wills. It was that aspect the formation diagram borrowed for its final ability.

With the formation diagram as a conduit, the person serving as the core would be possessed by one of those sword intents. It would be as if the owner of that sword intent had returned. But due to the peculiarity of the process, it wasn't something that could be easily accomplished.

For one, the core had to have reached the Palace Realm. Secondly—and more importantly—they needed to have achieved a certain level of resonance with one of those intents. In a sense, that resonance was the most crucial requirement for triggering the ability.

There had been no shortage of cores who reached the Palace Realm, but not all of them met the threshold needed for executing sword intent possession. The reason for that failure was their inability to attain the necessary level of resonance," Xia Fang said, her eyes glinting with a hint of pride—pride owed to her grandfather's achievements as one of the few who had managed to trigger that ability.

"In our history, only six have ever been able to use it, my grandfather being amongst that figure," she continued. "He resonated with the sword intent belonging to the clan patriarch of the golden era," she added, her eyes shining brighter as the scene from that night surfaced in her mind.

That horrid night, marred by blood and darkness and yet illuminated by that radiant sword intent that looked like it could cleave the skies, was forever etched into her memory. Especially unforgettable was the look of dread it drew from the members of the Ning family, a fear born from the recognition of the sovereign presence of their old master.

"My grandfather, on being possessed by that intent, it was like his body had become the host for that clan patriarch. His aura, his demeanor, even the way he wielded the sword, was of that patriarch. The only thing missing was his late-stage Palace Realm cultivation base. But thanks to the formation diagram being fueled by the power of that sword intent, he was able to wield the abilities of a middle-stage Palace Realm expert, at least," Xia Fang continued, her thoughts drifting back to that night.

"Using that ability, my grandfather, or rather i should say the 11th clan patriarch reversed the situation as he slaughtered his way through two of the Ning clan's four palace realm experts, and thousands more who were below that, which forced that expert that was preparing to breakthrough to the middle stages to abandon his seclusion," Xia Fang said, her eyes gleaming with satisfaction as she recalled the wails of despair and begging from that memory.

This time, at least, it wasn't her clan members who were crying out, but them.

"By the time that expert emerged and joined the remaining Palace Realm cultivator, we were already near the border as my grandfather made sure to destroy everything within that path."

"Eventually, we managed to reach the border and escape, while my grandfather remained behind to hold off the rest of the Ning family.

"I don't know what happened after that as we were ordered to run as fast as we could and not look back," she softly added, her expression one of deep regret and distress.

"What was its drawback?" Yang Qing asked.

As with all borrowed power, there was always a price to pay—and the greater the power, the heavier the cost. Judging from Xia Fang's expression, the price her grandfather paid for that ability was bound to be severe.

"Because he was only in the first stage of the Palace Realm when he used it," Xia Fang softly began, "he could only maintain that ability for three hours. After that... he'd be crippled at best, and at worst, he'd lose his life," she added faintly.

"One way or another, from the moment he used that ability, he was never going to make it out. The best he could do was buy as much time as possible and cause as much damage as he could to make it all count."