Daily life of a cultivation judge - #626 - 626 King Zhou Luan's despair

The Zhang family head let out a sigh accompanied by an envious look. As a sword cultivator, nothing excited him more than a thrilling battle.

He remembered the first time his grandfather took him to one of the duels. To say it was impactful was an understatement.

Even as a spectator who was kilometers away from the battlefield, he could feel his blood boil and his spirit surging from their battle.

Those within the Deer Mountain Kingdom labeled the Zhang family a noble family of heroes but they never saw it that way.

The reason they plunged themselves headfirst into dangerous situations, always at the frontlines whenever danger appeared was because they were a family that loved combat. They never felt more alive than at the battlefront. 

Almost every member had that same feeling, which was why when the period of peace set into the kingdom, the Zhang family seemed silent and forgotten. They barely concern themselves with anything other than combat. Even the struggle the royal family had with the other aristocratic families wasn’t enough to draw their attention.

To them, it didn’t matter who was king, they would continue to do what the Zhang family liked to do, which was to battle, and that feeling was something the current family head agreed with, especially as a sword cultivator who refined their abilities and grew in battle.

He too, as he grew stronger constantly fantasized about battling the badger but alas by the time he felt himself worthy of being a fighting partner, the badger had already disappeared. But now hearing that the badger was likely alive and well, he couldn’t help but clench his fists in excitement. 

However, he quickly reigned in his excitement but not quick enough because Yang Qing managed to detect the faint battle lust that he had let out. 

“A family of combat fanatics..” muttered Yang Qing.

From personal experience, Yang Qing could instantly recognize the embers of a fanatical look. His grandfather and his cohorts of vipers all wore the same look when they tormented him with their experiments, his brother had that same look slowly growing within him not that the person himself noticed it, and now he could see that same look in the Zhang family head.

Those who would push all logic away, all for their interests. Their interest mattered more to them than even their life.

Seeing his look Yang Qing had this strange feeling that maybe in this whole mess and chaos surrounding the Deer Mountain Kingdom, especially potential attacks from the obsidian serpents or the fire adler bear, or retaliation from the surviving spirit beasts of the war back then, that maybe the Zhang family, unlike the rest of the kingdom, might actually be looking forward to it with blissful anticipation.

It was not too farfetched, especially, with the things he had seen his grandfather and the rest of the Yang clansmen do in the pursuit of the body refinement realm. There were no lengths that they would not go to.

He felt that the Zhang family might just be the same. Just as insane. The fact that Zhang Qishan’s grandfather dared to duel the badger at the Forsaken Drought Valley already served as proof of the lengths they would go to, to enjoy a good fight.

Even if Yang Qing wasn’t a local he knew about the valley due to its peculiar features. The area was bereft of any spiritual qi and not only that one could not even use the spiritual qi stored within their bodies.

The area had an increasing gravity. All who stepped into the area felt like they were being pressed on by a mountain.

The area also released traceless baleful energy that distorted the use of spiritual sense.

Few people went there because of its disadvantages that would leave someone vulnerable to countless dangers yet despite all that, Zhang Qishan’s grandfather and the badger saw it as the perfect place to hold their duels and have continuously done so for at least 1,000 years.

No one would do that unless they had a screw loose somewhere.

King Zhou Luan had a look of surprise when he heard the Zhang family head mention the tally count of the fight between the two.

While his grandfather had been touted as a dazzling genius within his era, there was another person who had managed to closely follow his grandfather despite others falling to his brilliance, and that was Zhang Qishan’s grandfather.

He was never that far behind his grandfather. An expert at fist techniques, and had a powerful body that made one feel like they were staring at a blazing inferno capable of incinerating the mountains and the rivers to ash in an instant.

Even spirit beasts lauded for their strong physique and being unafraid would tremble at his presence yet now Zhang Qishan just revealed that there was a spirit beast capable of going toe to toe with him.

He could feel his insides churning, his lungs turned hotter and his head fainter. 

He was already stressed to the point of insanity with the presence of the obsidian serpents, the syndicate, the remnants of the war, the nobles within his territory, his grandfather’s well-being, and now he had to worry about a potential domain expert fire adler bear, its unknown master maybe and now a badger that can fight to a draw presumably the current strongest fighter in the whole kingdom with his grandfather out of commission.

Worse was the latter three threats had a relationship with each other. For the first time in his life, he felt lost. There was nothing he could do.

“King Zhou Luan? King Zhou Luan? King Zhou Luan?”

Yang Qing worriedly called out to the king a few times when he saw his increasingly pale face and the lost look he had on him.

It took him infusing his call with his soul essence for the King to finally come out of his stupor.

Some semblance of awareness seemed to return to him however the sense of despondency and tiredness born out of despair could still be seen in him.

“Sorry..” the king weakly said completely lacking the calm regal presence he had when Yang Qing met him.

“You said the fire adler bear has a master?” he asked his tone going lower almost as if he was afraid of uttering those words out loud.

“Yes..” answered Yang Qing, reading where the king was going with this.

“Did the sycamore tree reveal the strength of his master?” 

Both he and Zhang Qishan waited for Yang Qing’s response with held breaths.

“The sycamore tree doesn’t know the exact strength but considering she could transform into a human, with us assuming his master is a spirit beast then we can only assume at the very least, she has reached the palace realm.

But ..” 

Yang Qing paused as his gaze turned solemn.

“This is my personal opinion which I strongly believe has extremely high chances of being true, assume she is in the domain realm.

Before she left, she could effortlessly defeat the fire adler bear with a single hit..”

Yang Qing’s words shattered whatever hopes King Zhou Luan had left as he muttered,

“The Deer Mountain Kingdom is finished..”