Daily life of a cultivation judge-Chapter 1048: Did you just arrive?
"It worked?!" exclaimed Yang Qing as he looked around, his gaze locking onto the familiar, enigmatic Sage Mountain. Tears welled in his eyes, threatening to spill with the faintest tremor.
The old parchment from the strange hut, bearing a teleportation inscription, had actually brought him back. A part of him had doubted it would, convinced it might instead send him to another ominous location.
His institute days were rife with stories of students who, believing they had finished a trial and earned a break, discovered that their "break" concealed yet another trial—one invariably worse than the last. He had fallen victim to it a couple of times himself, hence his doubts.
Never had he been more relieved to be proven wrong. Overcome with emotion, he knelt on the ground and kissed the grass rubbing against its dense coating of Dao as he laughed hysterically before making his way to the river for a mouthful of its water. Though it was usually tasteless, today it was the most refreshing water he had ever drunk.
It went without saying that the first time Yang Qing came here, he had drunk the river water out of sheer curiosity. After all, in his mind, any self-respecting glutton and epicurean simply had to, given the circumstances.
Given how amazing and mystical this place was, how could the water not taste extraordinary after being continuously steeped in the numerous Daos and profundities saturating the environment?
In Yang Qing's imagination, he had envisioned the water tasting like some heavenly brew. He had hoped that a single sip might leave him sobbing with joy or even unconscious for an entire day, overwhelmed by its mind-blowing flavor.
Sadly, the water fell far short of his expectations. It was as mundane-tasting as could be—neither too cold nor too hot, just lukewarm and bland. No induced hallucinations, no explosions on the taste buds, no bursts of insight, no transportation to another world, and no renewal of body or mind—it was just plain, ordinary water.
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Underwhelming as it was back then, today, Yang Qing finally got that sob he always wanted as he drank its water, his heart brimming with joy as he did. It felt cooler and more refreshing to the heart and mind.
After taking a few sips, Yang Qing finally rose to his feet, still overwhelmed with gratitude for being alive and in one piece. However, his smile froze as he noticed a figure standing behind him, wearing a surprised expression.
"Judge Yang Qing... are you... okay?" asked the figure with a voice filled with concern.
"Purple Guard Wei Shen? ...When... Did you just arrive?" Yang Qing asked, his voice hesitant and tinged with embarrassment. His expression turned inquisitive and uneasy as he wondered whether the Purple Guard had just arrived—or if he had been standing there since his arrival.
If it was the latter, then... Yang Qing hurriedly pushed those thoughts aside. As thick-skinned as he was, that level of embarrassment birthed from that possibility was more than he could bear. Fortunately, Wei Shen's response spared him the ordeal.
"I arrived just now," replied the Purple Guard, his eyes holding a strange look that Yang Qing chose to ignore. Ignorance, as they said, was bliss, and in moments like this, it was a true lifesaver.
Eager to move past that embarrassing display—one neither he nor Wei Shen would ever admit to—Yang Qing shifted the focus to the strange place, hoping to divert the conversation.
"Do you know what that place is, Senior Wei Shen? Is it part of Sage Mountain? And the senior from there..." Yang Qing bombarded him with questions after vividly recounting where he had been. He even went so far as to retrieve the parchment with the Brilliant Ray Fist Art inscribed on it and the scroll tubing from the hut.
"Senior Wei Shen?.." Yang Qing called, noticing the Purple Guard's dazed expression as his eyes remained fixed on the parchment and scroll tubing.
"You got this from there?" asked the Purple Guard, his tone laced with mild disbelief.
Yang Qing's brows arched slightly at his reaction.
"So that place really is tied to the Sage Mountain," he mused, silently drawing confirmation from Wei Shen's reaction and statement.
"Yes, I did. You can look at them if you'd like," Yang Qing offered, pushing the parchment and scroll tubing toward Wei Shen.
"No, no, there's no need for that," Wei Shen said, politely declining with a small shake of his hand. Yang Qing's gesture seemed to pull him out of his brief stupor.
His gaze settled on the parchment in Yang Qing's right hand. "Besides, that's something you personally created, isn't it? You shouldn't be handing it so casually to others, considering the effort it must have taken you to create it."
"I don't mind," Yang Qing said, looking nonchalant about the matter.
"Really?" Wei Shen asked, a hint of surprise in his tone.
"Yes..." Yang Qing replied, his nonchalant expression clearly saying, Why wouldn't I? It's not a big deal.
"It's just a blue-grade art. I am sure you have interacted with better cultivation arts than this one and likely own better ones. Besides, cultivation arts, at the end of the day, are just notes of a cultivator's understanding. Notes born out of borrowing from the notes of other cultivators.
"If the Order can freely teach me gold-grade arts without me putting in any effort, then I can just as easily allow someone else to see my art. Besides, I'm not entirely altruistic about it. I do hope to gain something in return," Yang Qing said with a sheepish grin.
"Something like?" Wei Shen asked, looking amused.
"Can you explain how to use this?" Yang Qing asked, pointing to the scroll tubing. "Also, if it's not too much trouble, could you share information about the place I was transported to and the person I met there?"
"I should've expected as much..." Wei Shen muttered with a sigh, waving his hand in a gesture for Yang Qing to pass over the parchment.
Yang Qing's eyes shone with excitement, as this indicated that the Purple Guard had accepted his deal.
