Daily life of a cultivation judge-Chapter 1402: If you move you will die

"Nothing," Yang Qing fired back defensively, using a cold gaze and a cold tone to mask his momentary embarrassment.

Unfortunately for him, he was in the presence of someone who knew him all too well. It did not take Yang Shitong that long to piece together the likely culprits behind Yang Qing’s weird behavior when his eyes fell on the recipe in the suspect’s hands.

Smiling, he asked, "So, what do you think of my earlier proposal?" Yang Shitong slowly asked.

"There is not much to think about," Yang Qing coldly replied. "The locations you listed are unlikely to be there, and even if they were, do you think it is the place of a lowly fourth-stage palace realm weakling like myself to go inserting my nose into legendary treasure business?" Yang Qing mockingly asked.

"Those places, if they’re still where your memories say, there is a reason they have remained undiscovered. If soul formation experts have not yet found them, do you think someone like me will?" he asked. "Not unless those memories of yours contain the means to uncover those places," he added. "Do they?" he asked.

"Figured as much," Yang Qing added a few seconds later as he chuckled at the cold gaze and the twitching lips that came from Yang Shitong as a reply.

"There is no need to pretend," Yang Shitong coldly said as he eyed Yang Qing. "You would not have been moving like a puppet being controlled by a drunk if my information did not have some value to you," he added as his tone dropped meaningfully.

"Let me guess," Yang Shitong slowly said, smiling. "You are thinking of trading that information to the owner of that recipe," he said in a matter-of-fact tone.

"I want half," Yang Shitong calmly said as his smile grew wider.

Out of force of habit, Yang Qing was well on his way to complaining but held himself back as reason took over, and also the fact that it had been a long day and he had no energy left in him for another bout with the greedy bird.

"Fine," Yang Qing responded tiredly.

"Great," answered Yang Shitong, smiling triumphantly, though he still eyed Yang Qing warily, expecting him to go back on the deal by adding some other outrageous demand.

"You are sure you are okay with it?" he asked, studying Yang Qing’s expression in the hopes that it would reveal something.

"There is no need to examine me like I am some treasure of unknown origin," Yang Qing tiredly said, his eyes now focused on the juice and the skies above.

"I am not scheming anything. The information is yours," he said softly. "I am the one who is surprised your only claim to it is half," he added, tearing his eyes away from the sky to Yang Shitong, whose eyes had widened slightly in surprise at Yang Qing’s remark.

"Seems like there is a conscience in there after all, huh, Shitong?" Yang Qing added, smiling at the dumbfounded Yang Shitong, whose expression switched from surprise to embarrassment before settling on a soft, pompous snort.

"I have always been noble in character," Yang Shitong said pompously as he moved to pour himself some of the juice.

"Sure, sure," Yang Qing said in mock pandering as he pushed his cup forward to the Celestial Nesting Weaver, who poured into it after he was done with his own.

Occasionally, when he was not angering him to death or making him vomit blood, Yang Qing would see the young, diligent, honest Celestial Nesting Weaver who had been attached to his hip when he hatched.

"At least he does not maintain this form when we fight," thought Yang Qing as he surreptitiously studied Yang Shitong’ s face, which shared a few similarities with his, like the shape of the brows and eyes and bridge of the nose.

If someone looked at them both, ten out of ten would think they were siblings. It was an even closer resemblance a few years ago than it was now, back when the Celestial Nesting Weaver was younger.

Usually, when it came to spirit beasts, they could only polymorph into their human forms when they broke through to the palace realm, and usually they had not much input into how they looked in human form. It was already decided for them.

But as he had come to discover through the Celestial Nesting Weaver, mythical races did not seem to have such a restriction, because Yang Shitong could polymorph the instant he hatched, and he could choose how he wanted to look, be it in terms of age and even physical features.

In his early days, he looked like a younger version of Yang Qing, which threw his mother into tears when Yang Qing brought Yang Shitong over. If he was ever to have another sibling, it would have likely been then, given how much his mother mothered Yang Shitong.

Yang Qing could not help but chuckle inwardly as various memories from back then surfaced in his mind. As haughty as Yang Shitong was, he was not that way with his mother, which made him wonder if his mother had a gift for handling troublesome personalities, given how she was with Yang Shitong, his father, and even his grandfather and the other old fogeys of the clan.

As stubborn as those old mules were, they always seemed to soften and become more amiable when they were around her.

"How is the case?" Yang Shitong asked, pulling Yang Qing out of his nostalgia.

"I think an Aurora Dark Winter Jade Spruce member might be involved," said Yang Qing as he moved to take a sip of his wine.

"Do you have any memories associated with them, like where they lived and how they lived?" asked Yang Qing.

"I do," answered Yang Shitong before closing his eyes, which lasted for about three minutes before he opened them again.

"Somewhere I can write," he said, gesturing the writing motion.

Yang Qing nodded as a parchment immediately appeared on the table.

Using his finger as a quill, Yang Shitong wrote elegantly on the parchment, filling half the parchment with a list containing thirteen places.

Yang Qing studied the list, and of course he did not recognize half of those places, but at least there were places he did. He rolled the parchment before looking up at Yang Shitong. "Thank you," he said.

"Mmm," nodded Yang Shitong before both fell into an awkward silence, which was broken by Yang Qing as he quickly took out his communication talisman when an idea struck him.

"Han Lei," Yang Qing immediately said once the talisman connected. "Could you come by the abode now? There is something I need your help with," Yang Qing immediately said.

"Coming," said the voice on the other side.

"Who is that?" Yang Shitong curiously asked when he was midway through another sip.

"A former assassin who was put under me by Vice Warden Shao An," Yang Qing answered as he absentmindedly, softly drummed the table with his index finger, which was usually a tell-tale sign that countless other thoughts were swirling around his mind.

"An assassin?" Yang Shitong said in mild surprise. "And you agreed?" he immediately followed, still looking and sounding surprised. The Yang Qing he knew did all he could to avoid dangerous elements in his day-to-day life, and an assassin, even a former one, definitely counted as a dangerous element.

"It is part of my duties," Yang Qing replied with a sense of detachment and calm that Yang Shitong was not used to seeing him show, especially when discussing dangerous elements.

"Did they pay you... extra for it?" Yang Shitong asked in an uncertain and perplexed tone. If there was anything he knew would be able to make this roommate of his bend on his nature and preference, it was bribery and all forms of compensation that were high enough to tempt him into abandoning his principles.

"What is it to you?" Yang Qing sneered before adding, "Shao An recommended him, and I trust his judgment. Besides," he said, pausing to sigh, "with Yi Jie and the others all out of commission, I need all the help I can get," he added. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

No sooner had he finished that statement than his spiritual sense stirred. "Good, he is here," Yang Qing murmured before a small frown formed and then eased into a wry smile.

It did not take long before the culprits behind his expression appeared. One was a middle-aged figure in black robes with an ordinary aura and a face that would be easily forgotten, and next to him was a breathtakingly beautiful woman in red robes, dark red hair cascading down her back and matching eyes that radiated a cold, sharp aura.

"Han Lei, Miss Luo Suyun," Yang Qing softly said as he got up to greet the two.

The former cupped his fists in response as he threw Yang Qing an awkward and apologetic smile, while the latter did not seem to have heard Yang Qing, her entranced gaze glued on the Green Flame Tree.

Like someone drawn by an unknowable force, Luo Suyun started moving toward the Green Flame Tree. At first it was a slow stride, but soon the gaps in her steps widened, and the pace did too.

"Do—" Yang Qing’s words were cut halfway through by the sudden blistering heat that immediately invaded the entire abode, which was successively followed by pale yellow flames that drowned every color and every presence in the abode until only the pale yellow and the sun-scorching heat remained.

A soft grunt escaped Luo Suyun as she keeled over and landed on one knee, which she used to break her fall. Red smoke immediately started pouring out of her body as though her skin was melting. It was not long before the smoke turned to black-red blood that poured from her head, her eyes, and every orifice, and even her skin and dress were bleeding, with the blood they produced evaporating the instant it appeared.

She looked up in agony and pain at the source of her current state. The source was a single tree bathed in pale yellow flames, which, ironically—despite the current state it had left Luo Suyun in—had a gentleness to it, but within that gentleness was also an unquenchable fury that caused the air around it to boil over.

Luo Suyun’s gaze turned from agony to defiance as she gritted her teeth, her eyes radiating with sharpness as she moved to stand up. However, just as she was halfway up from her kneeling position, another overbearing force struck her, forcing her back down.

"If you get up, you will die," said a regal voice from behind the hand that had forced her back down. When she looked for the source, she was met with violet eyes that had countless stars exploding with terrifying power. A flicker of fear showed on her face as she could sense a boundless force radiating from that figure’s body, a force that made it seem as if the very cosmos itself were holding her firmly in place.

Han Lei did not look too good either, as he was pale himself, caught between fleeing and remaining where he was, his wary gaze alternating between the pale yellow tree and the terrifying figure pinning Luo Suyun in place with one hand. The only reason he had not yet fled was that the person who had called him over shook his head sideways when he saw his movements and then smiled, with a smile that seemed to say everything is okay.