Daily life of a cultivation judge-Chapter 1246: Bonded at a glance

When that human palace realm cultivator had snuck up on them, every instinct in Bolin’s body told him that person was extremely dangerous. So even if he couldn’t clearly gauge his cultivation realm, his honed instincts could at least measure the level of threat that person posed. Which meant that simply being in the palace realm didn’t necessarily nullify his ability to sense danger.

Yet with Yang Qing, he couldn’t sense anything.

Even now, after witnessing what Yang Qing’s spell had just done to that cultivator, Bolin’s instincts still gave him the same feedback they had the first time they met—that Yang Qing was a harmless individual with a lackadaisical air about him.

It unnerved him.

For spirit beasts, at least for most, they prided themselves on their natural intuition, and it was especially so for spirit beasts who lived in extremely dangerous locations like the Green Fog Region. The longer you survived, the better your intuition became towards sensing dangerous situations.. This was the true advantage of spirit beasts from that region and why their survival rate outside was likely to be higher than most. They knew how to sniff out danger.

And it was even more so for an old toad like Bolin, who had been at it for over five hundred years—yet here he stood, facing a freak his intuition couldn’t read.

How could he not be mortified?

His spiraling thoughts were cut short when he noticed a light golden-colored cicada perched on Yang Qing’s left shoulder. As soon as his gaze fell on the cicada, its gaze met his as well, and instantly, a shared thought echoed in both their minds:

"A kindred spirit.""A kindred spirit."

Bolin wasn’t sure why, but the cicada looked just as mortified by Yang Qing as he was. Ironically, that brought a strange sense of comfort to the two spirit beasts. They exchanged glances and gave each other slight nods of acknowledgment, understanding, and shared consolation in their mutual fear. It was like reuniting with a long-lost friend you could share your woes with because they understood it.

Sensing the shift between them, Yang Qing moved to introduce the cicada.

"Her name is Wenling, and she’ll be joining this merry band of ours," he said warmly, gently poking the cicada—who immediately shrieked in trepidation the moment she saw his hand reach toward her.

Ignoring her shrieks and pitiful mutterings—most of which amounted to begging for her life and calling Yang Qing the sage of all enlightened ways—he continued the introductions, pointing toward Haishi and Bolin.

"This is Haishi and Bolin. Since they joined before you, they’re now your seniors, so treat them nicely," said Yang Qing, his tone turning stern.

"I will! I will!" the cicada hurriedly replied, bowing her head to Yang Qing before obsequiously flying over to greet her new seniors with the proper demeanor of a ’junior.’

Haishi, caught completely off guard by the cicada’s sudden bow, gave a similarly nervous introduction.

"I-I am Hhash," she stammered, even fumbling the pronunciation of her own name in the process. She couldn’t bring herself to care about that slip. Her mind was split in two directions—one part focused on the newcomer before her, who was clearly far more powerful yet had bowed meekly to her, the weaker party—something utterly unheard of among spirit beasts. The other part of her was still preoccupied with the bubble of death surrounding her.

With introductions out of the way, Yang Qing bent down over the unconscious body and placed his right palm over the X-shaped marking on the man’s chest. His hand turned into white jade, and a suction force began to draw out whatever had created the mark. A stream of chilly fog flowed from the symbol straight into Yang Qing’s palm.

In truth, the question he’d asked earlier—about what had happened—had been more rhetorical than anything else. Earlier, while heading toward the cicada’s location, he had already sensed the man’s presence and his destination. Not to mention, he was still linked to the spell. Whatever actions it took, he was aware of them—and could even influence them.

Though in this case, he hadn’t. He simply hadn’t seen the need to.

The person before him was a freshly advanced first-stage palace realm expert, and judging by his fluctuations, his breakthrough was no more than a year ago. While Bolin was shocked at how easily such a figure had been taken down, to Yang Qing, the result was only to be expected.

This was a first-stage palace realm cultivator going up against a spell that carried 30% of his qi and power—it would’ve been strange if he hadn’t been defeated instantly. Thirty percent of his current qi capacity was already over 80% of what most first-stage palace realm experts had. Add to that 30% of his power, too... it was simply overkill against someone who had only just broken through.

He was someone who had effortlessly defeated and captured three palace realm experts back when he was only at the first stage himself, and one of those experts had even been the child of two domain experts, which meant they had far better foundations and equipment than the man lying before him now.

He was currently at the third stage. His spell defeating a first-stage palace realm expert with ease was par for the course. And that wasn’t even considering the elemental matchup, which added to the advantage his spell already had.

From the nature of the unconscious man’s qi, Yang Qing guessed he practiced a yin-based stealth art. That probably explained his confidence in sneaking around the gorge. Yin-based stealth techniques were among the best. But against the Yin Water Salmon Veil, he might as well have lit a flaming sign announcing his position.

Never mind the fact that the spell was one of the best sensory spells he had, its effects had been further amplified by the pristine yin spring beneath them. It was especially effective against stealth arts, and yin-aligned ones were the ones it countered most effectively. That cultivator had been doomed from the start. Whatever advantages he might have had were completely nullified. In fact, his yin-aligned stealth technique only put him at a greater disadvantage against Yang Qing’s spell than if he had used any other spell that wasn’t a yin in nature or a stealthy one.

After a few seconds, Yang Qing undid the seal placed on the unconscious cultivator. The attack from the salmon had shaken and bound the man’s soul. What Yang Qing had been doing was unraveling that binding and jolting his soul awake.

With the seal lifted, it wasn’t long before the cultivator regained consciousness—and the very first thing he did was attempt to flee. Unfortunately for him, that plan failed the moment he realized he couldn’t move an inch.

A jade-white hand rested on his shoulder, locking him in place. It had sealed every part of him. He couldn’t move his body, nor could he even rouse his qi to activate a movement art.

"What are you doing all the way out here? You don’t seem like someone from the Wan family," Yang Qing said casually, his gaze falling on the pale figure. "Elder Wan Li would have informed me if one of their clan members was in here," he added. The mention of that name instantly made the cultivator’s eyes even more.

"Not a Wan member," thought Yang Qing when he saw the reaction.

"So, who are you? And what are you doing here?" Yang Qing asked softly. freēwēbηovel.c૦m

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