Daily life of a cultivation judge

Chapter 567 A trap or something else?

After the scare given by the first two perilous zones he had read, the next zones were much more palatable.

There was nothing too outlandish about the remaining ten, though the remaining ten were not at the level of the first three in terms of intimidation and the capacity to incite extreme terror to all who came across them, some of them were still threatening enough, especially to the residents of the Deer Mountain Kingdom.

Of the ten there were two that stood out, one of them was the territory of a Fire Adler bear. From the report, the fire adler bear was currently in deep seclusion and seemed to be preparing itself for a breakthrough to the domain realm. From the speculation of Fen Xu and the special inquisitor, the odds of the fire adler bear reaching the domain realm were slim at the present moment, but it had a high chance of taking half a step into the realm, which they judged seemed to be the plan of the spirit beast based on its fluctuation.

To them, a half-step domain realm fire adler bear was nothing much but to the Deer Mountain Kingdom and the rest of the occupants of the range as a whole, it was a real threat.

As far as Yang Qing knew there were no peak or even late stage palace realm expert around the registered organizations in the Deer Mountain Range. The Deer Mountain Kingdom, which was thought to be the most powerful, their most powerful member who was the grand uncle of the current king, an old fossil that wasn't long for this world, was only at the sixth stage of the palace realm.

Should the fire adler bear take that half step, how many organizations around the range would be able to keep it at bay?

A half-step domain expert would be able to take on three or four peak palace ream experts easily, let alone some middle-stage palace stage experts.

Yang Qing couldn't help but feel pity for them. He could imagine their faces when they received the information about the bear. The two obsidian serpents were bad enough let alone the fire adler bear.

"I wonder if the couple and this bear know each other?" Yang Qing wondered.

The information about the fire adler bear was one of the four survey reports that would be shared with the Deer Mountain Kingdom. 

Of the remaining three, one was a parasitic purple flower spore sycamore tree that had already roused its spirit and was at the first stage of the palace realm. The parasitic purple flower spore sycamore tree was notorious for its illusory abilities and the spores it produces. The spores it produced an almost similar effect to the memory-altering gu, except the spores' purpose was to corrode the minds of those it infected and lure them to the sycamore tree itself, which would slowly decompose the host's body and use it as fertilizer for its growth.

The spores not only affected the living but also the dead, as long as the body it infected was intact, the spores could forcibly move the body to the sycamore's location. The tree was both cannibalistic and a renowned scavenger, which was why despite its known danger most preferred to have it around. 

With its presence, there was less likelihood of corpse miasma building up in the area, which was why there were a few kingdoms that planted it next to mass burial grounds or regions that had experienced a wide-scale battle. As for the parasitic spores, provided your willpower was strong, the spores would be harmless to you, even if your cultivation base was slightly lower than the sycamore tree.

In the case of the one in Deer Mountain Range, a late-stage core formation expert with strong willpower would be able to resist the spore's influence even with the tree being in the palace realm and even if they got infected, if they had someone powerful next to them, they could be restrained and the spores' effects would disappear after four days.

Yang Qing couldn't help but lick his lips as he wondered if its fruits had matured. Wine made from its fruits was perfect with meat dishes.

The second one shared was a gorge that seemed to have once been the home to a powerful ice artifact. The gorge occasionally leaked powerful cold yin energy at irregular intervals. The energy was powerful enough to freeze a middle-stage core formation expert down to their soul in fifteen seconds.

The final one was a cavern that had a jade nature stone forming within it. Jade nature stone was a natural treasure extremely vital to those at the core formation realm and below, where one needed to establish powerful foundations in preparation for the later stages.

As long as one cultivated next to the jade nature stone, it would strengthen their soul, improve their mental clarity, increase their sensitivity and absorption of qi, along with cleansing their bodies, and helping the cultivator in question awaken their elemental affinity if they have any.

Its uses were truly wonderous, and most organizations usually saved it for the disciples they had the most expectations since finding one wasn't easy. They only formed in areas of perfect harmony and balance between all five elements and the yin and yang energy.

Just as Yang Qing was wondering why the location of the jade nature stone was dubbed as a perilous zone, he found his answer with the next sentence. The jade nature stone had an owner, a mountain jade serpent at the second stage of the palace realm. 

While the jade nature stone could help human cultivators set their foundations, it had a different effect on spirit beasts, an effect that was tantamount to giving them a chance at a new life. The jade nature stone could help them purify their bloodline, and the scary part was, that as long as the spirit beast didn't die, it would continue to do so gradually until its last breath.

The process was slow, but if the spirit beast in question had an absurdly long lifespan, they would reap tremendous gains from having a jade nature stone.

Yang Qing once read about a turquoise leaf tortoise that stumbled onto a place that had a jade nature stone when it was but a hatchling. That tortoise in the present day was an alabaster season tortoise and was the guardian beast of the Alabaster saber sect, a rank 1 sect. The sect grounds were on its back and it had an independent weather to the outside world. It was like a walking mysterious realm on its own, and all that was brought about by the jade nature stone.

Of course, luck was also a factor since even with the presence of the jade nature stone, it wasn't a given that it would survive to date, lucky for it, the founder of the Alabaster Saber Sect found it and protected it long enough for it to undergo a monumental transformation.

"Why are they giving this information to the kingdom?" Yang Qing wondered. 

If the Deer Mountain Kingdom was to find out about the stone, it wouldn't be a stretch to imagine them trying to take it for themself, of course, whether they could do it was a different matter altogether. Mountain jade serpents were notorious for their defenses more so one that was already at the palace realm, and because of their deep affinity for the earth and water element, they could create earthquakes, and mudslides capable of causing mass destruction. Though the spirit beast was known for its mild temperament.

"Could it be a trap trying to ferret out the potential leaks of the kingdom? If it is then it seems Senior Fen Xu and the special inquisitor already had the same suspicions as I did.."

Yang Qing leaned back in his chair with a tired expression as he tried to adjust his mental state.

"Luckily, there should be more people from the Order coming. The Deer Mountain Kingdom must have used up all its luck to have been able to survive all these years in such a place.." he said with a sigh.

A tiredness washed over him and he decided to give himself to it as he slept, he only came to half an hour later when Yen Xu used her domain sense to inform him of the arrival of the personnel from the beast hall.

When the handover happened, Yang Qing was amused when he saw the wariness of the obsidian couple toward the person from the beast hall.

The wariness was expected considering the person was filled with the aura of countless spirit beasts on him due to the nature of his job, and among those auras, there was no shortage of ones with terrifying bloodlines.

Yang Qing could feel the mild trembling of their hands when the beast hall personnel walked next to them in greeting.

As they were leaving, Yang Qing did offhandedly try to find out if they knew the fire adler bear, and though they didn't respond, the stiff expression shown by the cold woman proved at the very least they knew of the fire adler bear.

Just as Yang Qing was about to make his way to the kitchen, the administrator Mo Guang found him midway to inform him he had a walk-in case referred to him.

Yang Qing couldn't help but curse his bad luck, not even one day had ended, before a case found him.