Daily life of a cultivation judge

Chapter 566 Should i leave this place

It was thanks to the degradation that we managed to find the objects hidden beneath the crevice, however, even with its current state, we only realized there was something in there due to mild fluctuations that didn't reveal much other than a slightly abnormal spike in spiritual qi quality.

In its current state, the array can fool even the domain sense of a first-stage domain expert.

The design and origin of the array is unfamiliar to us. However considering how long it has been able to remain intact and functional, despite degradation, the skills of the one who laid it is undoubtedly someone at the top tier of gold grade or a purple grade formation master.

The array itself was strange enough but inside there were even stranger things.

Even though it was concealed well, the area hides a mature dragon spirit vein, though the dragon spirit common with a mature dragon spirit vein was absent and the spiritual qi that surrounded any area other than the crevice seemed to disprove that but its lingering spiritual markings could still be felt within the crevice.

Upon further investigation, we discovered that the reason why the spiritual qi in the area was way less than what was expected of mature dragon spirit veins including the presence of the dragon spirit, and spiritual jade liquid pool common with all mature dragon spirit veins, was because it was all being constantly swallowed by a small palm-sized egg at the center of the crevice.

All the spiritual qi, and the spiritual markings that gave us the clues needed to deduct that there was indeed a mature dragon vein below, all seemed to drain toward the egg.

The egg looked like a piece of sculptured marble and had a red and green swirling coating on its shell.

Despite its seemingly dormant state, we felt a calamitous power being birthed inside of it, and from the design of the egg and the intricate rune markings that were mixed in the red and green wave, we strongly believe that the egg belongs to the one-legged crane like being of destruction, the Bifang Niao...

Yang Qing almost dropped the talisman when he read that part. A grotto that materialized a cultivator's heart demon which had the potential of stealing the cultivator's life was scary enough let alone, a Bifang Niao.

Though they were not as infamous as dragons or phoenixes, by virtue of their bloodline, they were not low on the totem poll either. If someone were to scale them, they were stronger than flood dragons, and the gap between them and mythical creatures such as the phoenixes and vermilion birds wasn't that high.

However, if one were to ask the common populace what they were most afraid of, a dragon or a bifang niao, nine out of ten would say the bifang niao.

The reason for this was simple, the tales surrounding the creature had it dubbed as a harbinger of fiery disaster, a disaster that could ravage half the continent.

The bifang niao looked like a crane, and had one leg, with a red and green feather coat and white beak. It looked benign or even weak owing to its missing leg and its size was that of a regular crane, however, that seemingly pitiable-looking bird created an unquenchable flame that would swallow and destroy everything in its path.

Nothing was immune to its flames be it wood, earth, the ocean itself, or even spiritual qi, any and all who were caught by even the tiniest spark of its flames would be reduced to nothing. Once released its flames never stopped burning.

It was known as the harbinger of destruction and dilapidation because after the target of its ire had been destroyed by its flames, the area would be rendered inhospitable for all life and if no extreme measures are taken for restoration, the effect could last millions of years.

Yang Qing remembered when he was a baby and he fooled around with fire, his mom used to tell him all the terrifying tales surrounding the bifang niao, and it always ended with this,

"Whenever you hear the crackling of burning wood, know the bifang niao is not far back.."

"A bifang niao? is this place even safe with such a creature around even in its egg form and how come there have been no sporadic fires happening in the region? From what I heard, its destructive flames are usually present even in its egg form not unless there was also a containment array in the area, but with its degraded state, shouldn't have a few flames managed to pass through?"

Yang Qing couldn't help but start to regret his decision for so readily agreeing to come here but the die had already been cast, for better or for worse, he had to honor his end of the deal, but if he made a mental note if he was informed that movements were coming from the egg, he would make a break for it.

He didn't care if he got punished for it, saving his body from potentially being barbecued came first.

A few seconds after the thought of being burned to a crisp hit his mind, a strange wondrous glow appeared on his mind as his gaze focused on the description of the egg, however, a few seconds later he shook his head dismissively as he muttered to himself it was impossible.

If one looked closely, one could detect a hint of unwillingness and regret in him.

Above the egg of the bifang niao is a sword in its embryonic form. The sword seems to be the reason that the gold grade formation has held on for this long, however, its role doesn't seem to be simply anchoring the formation, but, though this isn't proven yet and will need the eyes of gold grade blacksmith, it seems that the sword is both incubating and harvesting the egg.

It seems to be using the bifang niao flames to refine and temper itself.."

"What is this?!!!!" Yang Qing found himself yelling in his office in disbelief.

"A dark grotto and now this, someone is using the flames of one of the most feared creatures on the planet to refine their sword! how is this place safe?! the Order has really done me in.." Yang Qing hysterically said as he started pacing around the office, checking and rechecking the token in his hands to confirm it was still functional.

After the shock, came the hysterical laughs mixed in with tears, before finally a coolness that accepted death overcame him.

"They better make a statue of me or I will haunt them.." Yang Qing muttered in defeat as he sat down to read the last of the three most perilous zone.

At this point, the report could say they found the burning corpse of a phoenix or the tail of a dragon and he would remain unmoved. 

He had already been broken by what he had read and resigned himself to death, what more could the next information do?

Luckily the last zone wasn't as dire despite being in the top three of the thirteen perilous zones.

It was a region commonly known as ' the ruins of the wails of the dead'. It was a region in the Deer Mountain Range that looked like the weathered ruins of some long-forgotten organization.

There were mottled pillars with weird syllables which filled the area. Countless explorers and those looking to try their luck at gaining something visited the place, and some even went to the extent of taking some of the pillars with them to research the strange writings in the hopes that they could uncover some miraculous secret, a hidden cultivation art, some map, all in the hopes of growing their strength.

To date there has been no news of anyone deciphering what those symbols and syllables meant, and from what was written on the report neither did the special inquisitor nor Yen Xu.

Other than the dilapidated pillars, the area was known for its sporadic changes which made it a horrible place to stay. Spiritual qi fluctuations would be all over the place, sometimes high, sometimes pitifully low. Anyone who tried to cultivate there risked suffering a backlash due to those fluctuations that even affected the spiritual element distribution of the area. There would be lightning storms out of the blue, accompanied by dry hot winds, it would turn foggy even with the hot sun out, and it experienced regular earthquakes.

Over time, rumors started floating around that the region was filled with the spirits of those who did something unforgivable and were cursed to never find peace even after their death which was why the region was so chaotic.

Such rumors, and the chaos surrounding the area, and pillars that weren't worth much, left the area with little to no presence most of the time.

However, Fen Xu and the special inquisitor discovered there was some sort of natural array that linked different regions 10,000km around the region to the center of that place, and the natural array seemed to have a spatial attribute to it. It seemed to anchor something to that area, and that something was a mysterious realm, more than likely belonging to the owners of those pillars.

However, the natural array and treasure anchoring the realm seemed to have been damaged which was the reason the area was so sporadic. Void energy was occasionally leaking out due to the spatial instability of the mysterious realm, thus affecting the area.

The region would be sealed off until the area's space had been remedied, lest a void creature worm its way through and cause destruction to the regions around.