Daily life of a cultivation judge

Once Yang Qing sat down, he handed the talisman and the scroll that had the evaluation list to the male employee in front of him as he started his introductions.

"My name is Yang Qing, a superior core court judge. I will be leaving for three days to conduct rank 5 evaluations. It will be 1,400 evaluations in total at the southern quadrant from the White baobab kingdom up to the boundary of the territory of the Bluesky carp sect," said Yang Qing.

"Thanks, Yang Qing. My name is Lai Han and I will be serving you today. Pardon me for a minute as I demarcate your area of evaluation," said Lai Han as he fished out a scroll with the words southern quadrant written on it.

He gently unfurled it revealing a highly detailed map that showed different territories and the power it was under. There was a color marking next to the names of the powers that owned those territories. There were five different colors used on the map next to those powers, they were; Purple, yellow, blue, orange, and red.

Yang Qing despite not being regularly deployed was familiar with the coloring scheme as it was a must-know for every member of the Order more so for the judges, inquisitors, and the members of the review section.

The purple color meant the area was under a rank 1 organization, yellow was for rank 2, blue was for rank 3, orange was for rank 4 and lastly red was for rank 5 organizations.

Lai Han slowly traced the map with his fingers before he finally found the White baobab kingdom. It had an orange color coding around its territory showing it was a rank 4 kingdom. He then moved downwards with his finger until he saw the Blue carp sect that had a blue coding next to it showing it was a rank 3 sect The boundary of its territory was a long curving river that seemed to traverse for thousands of kilometers across different territories.

Lai Han drew a part square and oval shape around the map highlighting the area Yang Qing would conduct his evaluations.

On paper, the demarcated size was about the size of a palm which gave the illusion that the area Yang Qing would conduct his evaluations, was small. However, Yang Qing knew on the real scale it would be much larger. The area was atleast nine million kilometers squared. The only saving grace is some of the organizations would be clustered together.

Within that demarcated drawing, Yang Qing noticed there was one rank 2 organization. It was a clan called the Zou clan. From what Yang Qing knew about them, they rose into the ranks almost over 10,000 years ago and they were famous for their formation array skills with several top tier blue grade formation masters at the helm. Other than that not much was known about them as organizations at their levels are pretty secretive about their internal matters.

He also noticed a couple of rank 3 organizations in the area, there were atleast seven in total, of which three were sects, one was an empire, two kingdoms, and the last one was the headquarters of a bodyguard and escort organization called the Wind gliding steeds.

As for rank 4 and rank 5 organizations they were too many dots to count or follow. Yang Qing didn't pay them any heed.

Once Lai Han was done with the drawing demarcation, he took out another map. It was thin, translucent, and extremely thin like a cicada's wings. The map didn't have much other than eagle symbols spread about with tiny names above those symbols.

He gently placed that map above the detailed map. The thin translucent map shimmered like it was made of water as it dissolved into the map below it.  The eagle symbols that were on it started appearing on the map as they widely spread about within the map. Four appeared within the demarcated area Lai Han had drawn.

"With this, I should have everything I need," Lai Han said as he took a blank scroll. He formed a few hand seals on the blank scroll then proceeded to place it over the current map.

A duplicate copy of the map appeared on the blank scroll which he then handed over to Yang Qing.

"You can have this for your travels," Lai Han said as he handed over the map.

"As shown in the map there are four branches of the Order around your set area of evaluations. There's one near Deer mountain kingdom, another near the headquarters of the wind gliding steeds, the other one is near the Chain gate sect and the last one is next to the Zou clan territory in Yellow Plain County of the Red maple Empire," said Lai Han as he highlighted the four branches on his map.

"They will be informed of your deployment so they can be on alert should you encounter a situation that needs their rapid assistance.

I will also be giving you three different mantra codes for the three days you will be out which will be shared with the four branches. Though even without the mantras with your eagle medallion signature you should be able to get their assistance. Though a little redundancy never hurts.

The mantras are stored here," said Lai Han as he handed a small light grey talisman to Yang Qing who proceeded to scan its contents with his spiritual sense after which the talisman turned to dust with its contents already imprinted in Yang Qing's mind.

"You also need this," Lai Han said as he handed Yang Qing another scroll that was sealed.

"Inside is the updated list of organizations within the southern quadrant. While the map highlights the territories and powers in charge of those areas, it doesn't show other organizations within those territories such as ranked merchant organizations, weapon shops, restaurants, alchemy shops, and the like. This scroll contains the broken-down list of those organizations and the territories they are in," Lai Han swiftly said as he handed the scroll which Yang Qing then stored in his storage ring.

Yang Qing decided he would go through the list on the journey over since it would be a long one.

"Senior Yue Ming, I need the soul ring bell please," said Lai Han as he politely addressed the female palace stage expert next to him.

The lady with red curly hair and matching beauty handed a small aged brown looking antique bell that had all kinds of ancient scribbling on it.

"Please pour your qi and attach a wisp of your soul to the bell," said Lai Han as he handed over the bell.

Yang Qing solemnly grabbed the bell. Although it looked like just a finger would break it, this was a genuine saint-grade treasure called the spirit calling bell. The current bell was but a part of the main spirit calling bell that was stored where the spirit council resided.

The moment Yang Qing poured his qi and attached a wisp of his soul to it, the bell lit up as a phantasm of an old man appeared from it.

"May the protection of the voyaging saint keep you," muttered the old man with an old mellow tranquil voice. He placed his palm on Yang Qing's forehead. A large complex seal appeared from his palm covering Yang Qing's entire body before it disappeared.

Yang Qing felt a form of bubble protection surround his soul.

The silhouette of the old man disappeared immediately after as the bell rang with a solemn sound that almost seemed to be saying safe travels. The ringing went on for almost a minute before it stopped.

The spirit-calling bell was meant to protect the user's soul. If Yang Qing ended up with his body obliterated the bell's protection would be triggered and transport his soul over to the area where the main spirit calling bell was and the spirit council resided.

It was one of the life-saving measures the Order uses during deployments, especially with the recent attacks on their members.

Yang Qing went on with a few more procedures before he was finally done.

"Your lamp soul has already been kept under close monitoring by the spirit council. Thank you for your time and I wish you safe travels ahead," said Lai Han with a polite smile.

"Thanks too," said Yang Qing as he got up.

"By the way are you related to Lai Lei by any chance?" Yang Qing asked as he was leaving.

Lai Han who had a professional look the whole time flinched a little before his appearance resumed back to normal.

"Yes he is my cousin," Lai Han finally answered

Yang Qing didn't say much and only smiled as he left.

He then went over to the requisitioning and disbursement office where he was given 1,000 middle-grade spirit stones and 1,000 gold coins which would be his per diem for the three days he was out. He was all smiles when he received it before finally making his way to the beast hall where Ellie was busy tormenting Haishi.