Daily life of a cultivation judge - #602 - 602 Working timeframe

The jewels protruding from her body let out a resplendent glow as they strengthened her body increasing the speed with which she moved from the door.

“Zhi’er what do you think you’re doing?” the king said with a sigh as he raised his hand to stop her.

“There’s no need for that..” Yang Qing said as pure white lotus shot out from his index finger. Before anyone present could register what had happened, the white lotus had already penetrated the woman’s brows.

She immediately stood still as all the chaotic energy and qi surrounding her was immediately quelled. Her rabid-looking eyes immediately regained clarity as calmness seemed to descend upon her.

Yang Qing’s display had drawn a lot of gazes from the crowd around him. Instantly stopping the frenzied woman wasn’t unexpected since anyone from the group whether it was the king, queen, the family heads, the chancellor, or the imperial secretary could easily replicate such a feat.

The chasm between a palace realm cultivator and one in the core formation realm was insurmountable. The frenzied lady no matter how much power above her cultivation base she released, ultimately was still a core formation expert. A quasi palace stage cultivator would be able to easily suppress her let alone a real palace realm expert.

What shook the crowd was Yang Qing was able to launch his technique before some of them were even able to catch it despite them being there. Those who were able to track his movement were the king, the head of the Zhang family, and finally the head of the Song family who had an imperceptible light flash in his eyes as he looked at the serenity lotus rune that had manifested on the forehead of the frenzied woman.

Everyone else was only able to catch the art after it had reached the woman. Such a revelation sent shockwaves through them because it was evidence that Yang Qing’s skills far surpassed theirs and by no small margin at that.

Being unable to track your opponent’s attacks was the worst thing that could ever happen to you. The stronger cultivators were the more dangerous their fights sometimes it would take just a millisecond of lost concentration for the opponent to take your life.

Yang Qing’s lazy and carefree look coupled with his young age had lulled them into thinking he was a junior like the princes forgetting this was someone who had made his bones at the Order. The display was a rude awakening to them.

“Please forgive her for her poor display, Branch Chief Yang Qing..” King Zhou Luan said as he cupped his fists in apology.

“The two princes we lost were both her sons, the shock of it all is still fresh in her mind please don’t take offense..” he added.

“I am sorry for your loss Consort Meng Zhi..” Yang Qing said as he stood up placed one of his arms above his chest and bent slightly.

Su Jinjing and Luo Meili also stood up offering the same condolences.

“Can my sons be saved..” the woman weakly asked with the rims of her eyes reddening again from the tears welling up.

“They can’t. It’s not us refusing. We can’t do it for them the same way we can’t do it for the inquisitors we lost.

Ressurection is out of our grasp, sadly..” 

Yang Qing couldn’t help but say this as he saw whatever little hope Consort Meng Zhi had, get snuffed out. Her face turned pale and her knees seemed to lose their strength as she collapsed on the floor.

The king reacted timely and caught her just as she was about to fall.

“Luan’er it’s my fault..” she weakly said as she leaned closer to him.

“Because of my selfish ambitions to make you see me worthy to be your queen, I resorted to even using my sons to further that goal.

All their lives I’ve never been a mother to them. I never got to know what Lei’er or Peng’er liked or never liked, what their interests were, what they were good at, the struggles they had. I saw nothing…All I thought of them were tools to use to get you to like me enough to make me your queen.

I deserve all this anguish and pain. I wasn’t a good mother… I wasn’t even a mother to them. I deserve this, but they don’t, Luan, they don’t..” she said with a weak pained tone that was muffled with her soft cry.

“I know.. They were good sons to the end..” King Zhou Luan said with a sigh.

He lightly pressed on a few of her acupoints which immediately put her to sleep. He waved his hand and immediately after the palace realm guard that was at the door appeared next to them.

He looked a bit ill at ease because of letting the consort through.

“Take her to her chambers and ask Ruo’er to keep her mother company..” said the king. The royal guard acknowledged the order as he gently lifted the soundly sleeping consort and disappeared from the room.

“Once again, I am sorry for the poor display..” added the king as he went back to his seat.

“It’s okay. In her position, I think I would react just as she did..” Yang Qing said.

The air in the room immediately turned sombre. The feast and the discussions aside, both the Order and the Deer Mountain Kingdom had suffered fatal losses and Consort Meng Zhi’s interruption was a reminder of that.

“The fire adler bear may not necessarily break through to the domain realm in one go..” said Yang Qing in a bid to break the stifling atmosphere.

His statement seemed to have worked as the downcast mood shifted.

“You’re certain?!” asked the king with unhidden agitation.

“A senior of mine confirmed it. Based on her experience after observing it, she surmised it would reach the quasi-domain stage but it is not close to that stage yet. It’s taking a cautious approach in its breakthrough so even reaching the quasi-domain stage will take considerable time..”

“Do you have an estimation?” asked the head of the Zhang family.

“Depends on the fire adler bear. It has the accumulations for it. From the fluctuations the senior said it could take 20 years to 40 at most..”

Though the king was relieved by the timeline it wasn’t all the way through. To mortals, 40 years was a lot, but to them, it was the same as taking a short nap. It flew by so fast.

“The array has 120 years at most before it stops working. Hopefully, the timeframe we’ve been given is sufficient for us to come up with something..” thought King Zhou Luan.