Daily life of a cultivation judge

Those who could use nebulous yin qi as exquisitely as it had been used were few in number on his shortlist of suspects. So yes—because of what he had found—high on his list of likely would be kidnappers of Bai Chen and his disciple was someone from either the Aurora Dark Winter Jade Spruce tribe or the Dark Yin Water Oak tribe, given the abilities and reputation those two treefolk tribes had when it came to nebulous yin qi.

And if he was being perfectly honest, his spirit stones were on the culprit being from the Aurora Dark Winter Jade Spruce tribe rather than the Dark Yin Water Oak tribe. The reason was simple—one tribe had fallen on hard times, and turning to kidnapping when you were desperate was a predictable action for someone in such straits, whereas the other tribe was thriving, living alongside another mythical race famed for having one of the sturdiest defenses in the world.

So, if asked who was more likely to be involved in the kidnapping between the two tribes, his answer would be the one in the most desperate condition.

And if his guess proved correct, then that meant there were still members of the Aurora Dark Winter Jade Spruce tribe out there despite their dire situation. Now that he thought about it, from the way Vice Warden Shao An had framed it, it was also likely that both the Dark Yin Water Oak treefolk tribe and the black tortoise mythical race were alive and well somewhere.

Not all races are missing, Yang Qing pensively repeated as he absentmindedly brought his teacup to his lips—only to find it empty. The realization snapped him out of his trance.

"I could always ask the Vice Palace Master when I get back," he said cheerfully as he refilled his cup, once again reminded of how good he had it at the Order—where he could casually approach a soul formation expert and have his doubts answered.

"I wonder if he has other journals here," mused Yang Qing as he reached out with his free hand for some sesame seed pastries, while his gaze was still fixed on the journal. After helping himself to one and humming in delight at its flavor, he once again interacted with the go tile via his spiritual will, mentally commanding it to pull up any works related to the wandering scholar Song Quan.

His eyes lit up in excitement when he saw there were seven more works by the scholar. One of them, however, wasn't under the Curiosities section like the rest, but instead filed under Botany, Alchemy, Zoology, and Other Environmental Studies. Curious, he began with that one first, and as he read through it, he found it just as captivating as the first journal—though admittedly less adventurous-sounding than hunting for dragons and phoenixes.

The report detailed how the scholar, Song Quan, believed that the continent's spiritual qi density was increasing on a continent-wide scale. What began on the introductory page as a mere supposition had, by the halfway point, turned Yang Qing into a believer.

Wandering scholar Song Quan might have had wild ambitions and an active imagination, but after reading his work, Yang Qing also found him to be an extremely erudite individual. His grasp of herbology, geomancy, and other related studies was so profound that, based on what Yang Qing had read, he would have pegged him as at least a blue-grade holder in all of those fields.

In the pages, Song Quan's explanations—along with his findings and interpretations—were concise, easy to follow, and yet remarkably insightful, with their depth never sacrificed for the sake of brevity. Whether it was spiritual veins suddenly evolving from middle-grade to high-grade without outside interference, spiritual plants maturing faster than they once did, certain new high-quality species appearing in places they had never grown before, or the quality and quantity of other natural resources rising in various parts of the continent—all of these changes were attributed to a continent-wide increase in spiritual qi density.

The report captured it all in an extensive and illuminating detail.

At the end of the report, Song Quan, remaining true to his form, gave an outlandish remark: that the likely culprit behind the surge in spiritual qi density was some immortal treasure—actually, treasures. In his closing note, he claimed that the three bodies of water surrounding the Southern Continent, namely, the Millionsfold Treasure Ocean, the Bestial Churning Sea, and the Celestial Ocean, all likely hid an immortal treasure within them, especially the first two, given how peculiar they were.

It was the presence of those immortal treasures, he said, that made the Southern Continent so spiritually rich, as it was encircled on three sides by them. He further speculated that they were the likely culprits behind the steadily increasing spiritual qi density, suggesting that perhaps one of them was evolving even further, hence the growing qi density.

Yang Qing didn't quite know what to make of that finishing remark. He'd heard of cultivators with extremely long lifespans, especially treefolk. He'd heard that the basic lifespan of an early-stage Soul Formation expert who had just broken through was about 250,000 years—and only grew higher from early to middle stage to late stage.

There was even a rumor that those at the late stage had at least 500,000 years to their lifespans. But as long, or as large, as those numbers were, they were still finite.

Did immortality exist? He wasn't sure. But at least every cultivator—well, not all, but some—wanted to find the answer to that question. That was why they cultivated: aiming for the summit, to see if immortality truly awaited there.

But as far as he knew, the answer had not been found.

Still... the oceans mentioned, especially the Millionsfold Treasure Ocean—given how mysterious and esoteric it was, birthing all manner of treasures, with no one to this day knowing how it did so, its many secrets still unearthed—one couldn't help but wonder.

What truly lay at its depths? Where did the power that let it do what it did come from? Was it the Heavenly Dao... or was it something else?

Immortality… immortal treasures… Yang Qing couldn't say if they truly existed. But he believed that anyone who uncovered all the secrets of the Millionsfold Treasure Ocean would surely find out—if they ever reached its deepest heart, where its true secrets likely lay.