Daily life of a cultivation judge-Chapter 1439: Charm of the hidden radiance pearl (1)

Hidden Radiance Pearl!

The wine gourd in Yang Qing’s hand almost slipped out through his fingers as his grip went slightly limp. Every ounce of strength his body had was currently concentrated on his eyes and his spiritual sense, all trained on that pebble in Li Gang’s hands. And he was not the only one. It did not matter whether it was the ground floor or the VIP and VVIP rooms, or even the two appraisers below. Every single eyeball in that room was captivated by that pebble.

It did not have that ethereal, mystical, radiant light and presence it had shown earlier, but even without them, its presence still drew every attention toward it without reservation.

Such was the charm of the Hidden Radiance Pearl.

"How do they have it here?" Yang Qing softly murmured in stupefaction as the luster in his pupils slowly gave way to another emotion. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

There was one place his cowardly, adventurous heart had always daydreamed of going: the Millionsfold Treasure Ocean. If his paranoia and heightened sense of self-preservation were even a smidge lower than their current levels, he was fairly certain he would have definitely made his way there regardless of the risk.

If the Order one day told him that they would send him there with an escort of seven... no, twelve peak Soul Formation experts, all for the price of him working for the rest of his life for them without pay, without complaining, and without breaks, Yang Qing would very well take that deal without hesitation. Luckily, for as good as his adversary was at reading him and using that read to exploit him thoroughly, there were still exploitable parts of him they had not uncovered.

Millionsfold Treasure Ocean, Yang Qing wistfully murmured as his gaze turned dreamy.

The curious bookworm that he was, he had read countless scrolls and transcripts that described the place. Not to mention, because of his being enamored with the place, he even sought out personal accounts from those within the Order who had been there, with Deputy Valley Master Ren Shu being the chief and primary source of said inquiries. Every time Yang Qing went to him to confirm the things he had read about the place, before he clarified further, Ren Shu would always begin by saying:

Yang Qing, no matter how richly detailed those accounts are, they pale in comparison to experiencing the real thing in person.

And every single time he heard that, Yang Qing’s thirst for going there would grow deeper. About the only thing that kept him from fully taking the plunge (besides his weak cultivation base and years of deep-seated fear that chained him) was the same accounts that fueled his thirst for the place also deterred him from going there.

No place on the continent had experienced the deaths of powerful cultivators more than the Millionsfold Treasure Ocean. Not even the Bestial Churning Sea, with its fearsome reputation and blood-soaked waters, came close. After all, while it had seen the deaths of countless Domain experts, it had been a long time since Yang Qing had heard of a Soul Formation expert dying there.

But that was not the case with the Millionsfold Treasure Ocean. Take just the last century alone: at least four Soul Formation experts had died there. And those were just the confirmed cases. That number had the potential to be higher, given the number of Soul Formation experts who "went missing" in those waters.

Would Yang Qing and his measly Palace Realm cultivation base fare better? And yet... despite all that risk, and his devout obsession with avoiding all things that risked his life, Yang Qing (the very Yang Qing who was so afraid of learning that a former instructor of his was sneaking around his abode without his knowledge that he was here selling off wares to guard against him) had promised himself that he would go there immediately after breaking through to the Domain Realm, or maybe even before, given the high fatality rate of its tribulation.

That terrifying reputation made him think that it made more sense for him to go there a day before his seclusion for the breakthrough and see it for himself, so that even if he failed his Domain Realm breakthrough and fell under its tribulation, he could at least go peacefully, knowing that he at least got to see the Millionsfold Treasure Ocean.

If someone as cowardly as him entertained such thoughts, what about the rest?

For all its fatal encounters, there was no shortage of cultivators swarming toward the waters of the Millionsfold Treasure Ocean. And it was with good reason. That tiny, unassuming pebble in Li Gang’s hands was one of those reasons.

Hidden Radiance Pearl, otherwise also known as the Fate Changing Pearl, or the Heavenly Transformation Pearl, or the Pearl of Dreaming, because of the potential that lies within them.

These pearls, born out of the mysterious essence of the Millionsfold Treasure Ocean, carried within them the chance to completely overturn someone’s fate.

Every pearl carried something within it, and no one knew what until they used their soul essence to unlock the pearl. Not even the powerful spiritual senses of a Soul Formation expert would be able to tell what lay within each pearl without unlocking it.

That sense of mysteriousness and the potential of what lay within gave rise to pearl fishing.

Part of what pulled Yang Qing to visit the Millionsfold Treasure Ocean, despite the risks, was exactly those pearls. Not knowing what you were going to get was a source of excitement for him, along with the chance that you could potentially end up with a saint-grade level treasure.

I wonder what it holds, Yang Qing whispered excitedly as an old memory flashed to the forefront of his mind, and along with it, the feelings of excitement said memories held, which further amplified his current state.

He had never been to the Millionsfold Treasure Ocean and, as such, had never done pearl fishing. But this was not his first time seeing a Hidden Radiance Pearl. This was his second time, with his first interaction being closer than this, where he could only see the Hidden Radiance Pearl through glass. Unless he won the bid, he would not even get to touch it, unlike that first time, where he not only got to see one up close but also got to touch it and even unlock it himself.