Daily life of a cultivation judge-Chapter 1146 - Twisted fate
1146: Twisted fate
1146: Twisted fate
“Just as they were wondering who he was, that figure announced himself—revealing his identity as the son of the rogue cultivator from whom our clan had snatched the celestial light hawthorn.
Along with that revelation, he spoke of the loss he suffered because of our clan’s actions,” Xia Fang said before taking a brief pause.
“It turns out his father did manage to drag his heavily injured body out of the mysterious realm and return to his wife and child—but he was never the same,” she continued slowly.
“The loss of that hawthorn damaged him, and his wife’s deteriorating state only made things worse.
For three years, he was stuck in a delirium—constantly cursing his weakness, his inability to protect what mattered, and the frustration of how close he had come only to fail in the end.
All the while, his son silently committed everything to heart—especially the part about the celestial light hawthorn and how much it meant.”
She let out a soft sigh, a wistful smile touching her lips.
“As one would expect, it left quite a mark on him—so deep that even after a thousand years had passed, he still couldn’t let it go,” Xia Fang said quietly.
“Eventually, when his father could no longer endure the torment and his wife drew closer to fully transforming into a tonic for the devouring lily cauldron phantom spider that had parasitized her… he chose death,” Xia Fang said softly.
“By mutual destruction,” she added, the weight of her words settling heavily in the office.
“He blew himself up along with his wife—a last, desperate act to save her from the horrific fate awaiting her, while also taking vengeance on the devouring lily cauldron phantom spider for what it had subjected them to.
And perhaps…” Xia Ting said slowly, her voice growing quieter, “as an atonement—for his failure… and his final act as a husband and father.”
She let out a soft sigh, as the heaviness in the room sunk deeper.
“His son ended up witnessing it all,” she murmured, with a faint flicker flashing in her eyes.
As someone who had suffered a similar loss, she couldn’t help but feel a measure of empathy.
She could imagine the anguish he must have felt, though that understanding did little to quell the bitterness, resentment, and hatred she still held toward him.
“After the death of his parents, he left for the Cyan Crescent Kingdom to seek out a sworn friend of his father’s—a man his father had urged him to find if the worst ever came to pass.
That friend was meant to guide him toward the next chapter of his life,” Xia Fang continued.
“That friend happened to be a garrison master of one of the countless towns under the Cyan Crescent Kingdom’s control… and that connection became the spark that ignited what that rogue cultivator’s son eventually became,” she said, her voice laced with a complicated mix of regret and lingering resentment.
“He was accepted by that friend, and through the twists and turns of life, his talent shone through—so much so that he eventually caught the attention of a domain expert from the kingdom, who took him in as a disciple.
From there, in just a thousand years, that son cultivated to the peak of the palace realm—only a single step away from the domain realm,” Xia Fang said, a pained look crossing her face as if she still struggled to accept her clan’s horrid luck.
Snatching treasures was a common practice, especially when doing so against rogue cultivators.
Countless sects and clans had done so and reaped enormous benefits without ever facing consequences.
Yet, for her clan, that same act had become their greatest misfortune.
Instead of gaining without repercussions like so many others had done before, they ended up drawing the unyielding ire of a powerful expert backed by an even more powerful kingdom.
The Cyan Crescent Kingdom, like the Silver Crane Sect, was an ancient and formidable rank-two nation.
Though it lacked the rumored ties to long-lost holy lands that the Silver Crane Sect boasted, it had something else that made it just as terrifying—perhaps even more so.
It had once produced two soul formation experts, who had emerged during different periods of their history.
That singular fact made them a huge standout amongst rank two organizations.
While officially it was still a rank-two power, its foundation and history made it so that it was no different from that of a rank-one organization—after all, it had produced not just one, but two soul formation experts.
Some would even argue that, because of that distinction, the Cyan Crescent Kingdom held a marginally superior position compared to the Silver Crane Sect.
After all, despite the sect’s rumored connections to an ancient holy land, there wasn’t a single recorded case of them ever producing a soul formation expert—unlike the Cyan Crescent Kingdom, which had accomplished the feat twice.
Smiling bitterly as she shook her head, Xia Fang continued,
“As it turns out, thanks to his rise in stature and the extensive resources of the Cyan Crescent Kingdom, he had long since uncovered clues that led him to us—about 400 years before he decided to attack.
The reason he didn’t act earlier…” Xia Fang paused, exhaling softly, a self-deprecating look shadowing her face.
“He waited that long just so he could save us—so he could use our clan as a whetstone to sharpen himself for his breakthrough to the domain realm, much like how the devouring lily cauldron phantom spider intended to do with his mother,” she said, her lips curling into a faint, bitter smile at the cruel irony.
“He used our clan to sever his heart demons and ascend to the domain realm,” Xia Fang said coldly.
“He slaughtered all our palace realm experts, sparing the rest only because our clan elder had once shown mercy to his father.”
The twisted look on her face made it clear she didn’t view that mercy as a kindness.
Her next words left no doubt about her feelings.
“I sometimes find myself wishing he would have destroyed it all.
At least then…” Xia Fang’s voice trailed off into a murmur, the rest of her thoughts left unsaid—but painfully easy to infer.
