Daily life of a cultivation judge

"Don't worry Owner Tan Delun we will do all we can to assist both you and cultivator Wen Yingjie to bring this matter to a successful close. Cultivator Wen Yingjie if you may," Yang Qing said as he left the floor to Wen Yingjie to give his testimony.

Wen Yingjie cupped his fist in acknowledgment before he continued.

"I won't waste the court's precious by repeating some of the details as I can attest to the veracity of my little brother Tan Delun's statement in regards to the materials and also the arrangement I had with his father and everything that happened in between.

I have known the falling meteor blacksmith shop for quite a while now though I'm not a regular I've had a few pieces of equipment made by the owner of the shop Tan Ping. So I've personally experienced the quality of their work and it was the reason I was willing to entrust the commission of refining a customized saber for me to them.

After hashing out the details with Tan Ping which Tan Delun has elaborated on, Tan Ping called me three months later to come and inspect the saber and see if it was to my satisfaction. I had left him with additional ingredients so if there was a problem with the weapon, Tan Ping would work on it without charging me anything else.

The saber had more than exceeded my expectations from the craftsmanship to its quality. I've seen my fair share of high-grade sky rank weapons and I can confidently say the saber Tan Ping made is capable enough to stand with the best of them.

Pleased with the effort he put into making the saber I left the additional ingredients with him as a token of my thanks and left.

It was a few days almost a week in that I noticed a problem with the saber though I can't necessarily say it's a common problem. For some reason, the saber kept attracting lightning over. At first, I thought nothing of it and just chalked it up to a freak accident or the whims of mother nature.

However, this problem didn't go away and only continued to increase in intensity. I didn't notice it at first but after being almost struck a few times I realized it was the saber's doing. It would produce this humming sound every time there was a cloud overhead and lightning bolts would charge soon after. If it was regular lightning I would have ignored it but this lightning was different. For one it could hurt me though not as much but enough to leave some minor injuries.

Things got worse one time when I was trying to run away from the lightning that was trying to strike me when I felt the saber I don't know how but it anchored itself on the ground and refused to budge an inch no matter how much I tried to pull it. It kept drawing more lighting strikes to it for almost ten minutes before it cleared up. I honestly expected it to be destroyed in the bombardment but there it was still standing and intact. I don't know why but I intuitively felt it had become different after being bathed in that lightning. Everything seemed normal but my instincts were telling me there was something different about though I could not tell what.

When I tried to pick it up once more this time it finally budged and I could easily pick it up. It was then that I decided to hurry back to the falling meteors blacksmith shop and inform Tan Ping of the weirdness of the saber. As a rogue cultivator, I'm often in perilous situations when sourcing for cultivation resources, and having the saber bring out unstable components such as the lightning or the weapon dislodging itself were things I couldn't afford happen to me on a job where a second of distraction or weakness could very well lead to my death.

When the saber behaved normally it was the perfect weapon the only issue I have is the weirdness surrounding it which I have no idea whether it will disappear on its own or will it get worse. I decided to err on the side of caution rather than find out.

But when I visited Tan Ping I found out he had already gone into seclusion to breakthrough. As for little brother Tan Delun, he tried to help but even he was stumped by the bizarre characteristics the saber was exhibiting so I decided to wait for his father to come out of seclusion. But despite staying for three months he never came out. If it was any other time I would have been willing to wait for even a year but I have a time-sensitive mission that I cannot postpone and I need as much firepower as I can get such as a high-grade sky rank weapon.

I would have traded the saber for another weapon as long as it was a high-grade sky rank weapon of a similar caliber to the saber but I felt it would be irresponsible of me to leave the saber with Tan Delun. If it invoked another lightning strike whilst in Tan Delun's possession in the best case he will be crippled in the worst case he would instantly die. The odds of the latter happening were much higher since those strikes have been increasing in power they are close to matching the attack of someone at the later stages of the core formation realm.

It was then we decided the best option was to settle the matter here as I didn't have the capital to buy another high-grade weapon and Tan Delun doesn't know any other person competent and trustworthy enough to consult on the matter.

Judge Yang Qing, it is my sincere hope you can help us with this. If possible I'd rather retain the saber, I'd hate to part with it. I humbly ask for your guidance," Wen Yingjie solemnly said with deep sincerity showing in his eyes.

"Hahahahahahha well, Wen Yingjie you may be in luck one more than you could have ever imagined. Luckily you brought this matter to us rather than go someplace else especially other blacksmith shops or merchants with a keen eye for detail and who know their weapons well.

"Yi Jie you've detected it too right? I'm afraid without my monarch sense It would have gone unnoticed but from a seasoned blacksmith like yourself it would be as clear as day," Yang Qing said as his eyes glittered as he eyed the saber in Yi Jie's hands. Yi Jie was the same too as he even brought it close to his ears for further inspection.

"Mmmh…Explains why the owner went into seclusion immediately after. Successfully making something like this in just three months and it seems like he succeeded on the first try. It is the culmination of all he has learnt erupting in a single work. I'd like to exchange pointers with him. It's a nice saber," Yi Jie said as he eyed the saber with deep admiration which went opposite to his normal deadpan face or the occasional frustrated frowning face riddled with throbbing veins all courtesy of a certain green-haired judge.

Yang Qing's and Yi Jie's conversation drew in puzzled looks from both Wen Yingjie and Tan Delun who couldn't keep track of what was going on and why the duo looked at the saber like it was some sort of treasure.

"Before I fill you in on what you are wondering about I'd like first to introduce Yi Jie over here. He is an inquisitor well the head inquisitor of this court but he also has another title too and that is a blue-grade blacksmith. You should know what that means right? He can make monarch-rank weapons or equipment with the potential to reach that level," as Yang Qing explained this it drew shocked looks from Wen Yingjie and Tan Delun moreso the latter. As a blacksmith, he knew how difficult it was to become a blue-grade blacksmith. How old was the guy? His father had been stuck at the orange grade even though he was touted as one of the best at that grade it was still no blue grade.

In the blue origin world blacksmiths, alchemists, and any other craftsman even beast trainers or formation array masters were classified into the following grade in ascending order: White, Red, Orange, Blue, Gold, and lastly Purple. Their grading followed the exact rankings followed by the types of pillars one formed in the foundation stage. With white being the lowest and purple being the highest though there have been rumors there is a level above a purple-grade craftsman as for what it is no one knows except people at that level.

In Yi Jie's case being a blue-grade blacksmith meant he could create weapons that had monarch-rank potential or were at that level. A monarch rank potential was direct equivalent to palace stage cultivation potential.

Craftsmanship followed a different evaluation as opposed to cultivation realms. Sometimes their grades as a craftsman never equated to their cultivation realm though in most cases those two went hand in hand but in special cases where skilled individuals were concerned it never did. For example, a core formation array master could build a formation array that could exhibit the power of a palace stage expert or a blacksmith that is able to create a weapon that is capable of exhibiting the attack of a palace realm expert even if it was just once. Yi Jie fell in this category he was a quasi-palace stage expert but he could craft weapons that either had palace rank power or one that were at that level though they would be low-grade.

However, there was another special class where people like Song Chuanli the chief craftsman fell. Their expertise was so profound that they could raise the ranks of artifacts solely on their dao alone as long as the necessary materials were there. Chief Chuanli was a gold-grade craftsman despite being in the same cultivation realm as Yi Jie. It was because of skilled craftsmen like them that the term artifact potential was born.