Daily life of a cultivation judge-Chapter 1440: Charm of the hidden radiance pearl (2)

In the entire Order, the person Yang Qing considered himself closest to (aside from his family, of course) was Ren Shu. And in a sense, he placed Ren Shu on the same emotional scale as his father or grandfather. After all, it was always said: A master for a day, a father for a lifetime. The investment and care Ren Shu had shown toward him was no less than that of a parent, and in certain cases, he had even exceeded that of certain parents.

After all, how many parents out there could casually hand out a purple-grade cultivation art to their child, along with handing them something as precious as the sapling of the Green Flame Tree, all with no expectations at all other than the fact that it suited them?

He owed Ren Shu more than he could ever repay, just as it was with his grandfather and the other crazies from the Yang Clan who helped him form his Peerless Jade Physique. Whatever heights he would reach would be thanks to their efforts. There would be no Palace Realm Yang Qing without his clan or Ren Shu. Helping someone on their cultivation path, the way those two did, was no different from giving him life, because, in essence, they did give him a new life.

He admired them greatly. Of course, he would rather badmouth Old Fiend Lei to his face than admit so to his crazy grandfather and the other Yang Clan crazies. Though with Ren Shu, Yang Qing could say he admired him even more, because with his grandfather, while he was deeply thankful, they were kin. His support, though not guaranteed, would not be considered unusual given their familial ties. Not to mention, there was also the obsession with the Body Refinement Realm and the appearance of a perfect guinea pig to test their theories on and advance their study into the realm. His grandfather and the other clan members had sufficient motivation to invest in Yang Qing’s path, but the same could not be said of Ren Shu. 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

Yes, when Ren Shu gave him the Universal Resonant Light, he said it was because he felt it truly suited his Peerless Jade Physique. And when he gave him the Green Flame Tree, he said it was for the same reasons, and that the stronger he was, the better it was for the Order. But was the Order really short of talents that could make the most of those two items?

Then there were the other things he did along the way, like giving him a Hidden Radiance Pearl. As shameless as he naturally was, even Yang Qing was not too thick-skinned to say that he was fated with a Hidden Radiance Pearl.

For reasons known only to Ren Shu, he handed him one under the guise of expanding his horizons by allowing him to personally experience the charm of the Millionsfold Treasure Ocean for himself.

The mysterious black and white tree in his abode came from that very pearl. That tree, even though it was still a complete enigma to Yang Qing, Ren Shu had said that in terms of potential and what it could do once it matured, its worth was higher than that of the Green Flame Tree. Yang Qing at first doubted that statement, but as his cultivation realm grew, he could see why. That black-and-white tree was shrouded in an unfathomable power that his Palace Realm senses and understanding could not even begin to grasp. Interacting with that power made him feel as though he was staring at something ancient and endless.

Yet Ren Shu allowed him to keep that tree, despite its worth.

Sitting here, with yet another Hidden Radiance Pearl in front of him, he could not help but wonder what lay within. Did it hold yet another mysterious treasure?

Of course, it was not guaranteed that a Hidden Radiance Pearl would contain a mysterious spiritual plant destined to become a wondrous saint-grade treasure.

Sometimes, those pearls contained worthless things. There had been accounts where one opened their pearl only to find a useless rock in there, or sand. Others found it contained nothing but water, just regular, mundane water. Others ended up finding an earth-grade treasure in there, or unranked ones suitable for those in the Qi Refinement Realm.

Then there was also the other extreme, where the pearl contained something precious, but this precious thing contained the power to take your life.

In cases where someone opened it and they found, let us say, a fully matured saint-grade treasure, one of three things was bound to happen: one, said treasure would instantly escape; two, said treasure would instantly attack you; or three, said treasure would remain in place, choose you, and you would end up retaining ownership of said treasure.

Option one could be changed to option three if you were stronger than said treasure and were thus able to prevent its escape. But in the process, option two could come into play.

The various deaths in the Millionsfold Treasure Ocean stemmed from option two.

There was a common saying: "Birds die for food, and man dies for treasure." And it could not be truer in the Millionsfold Treasure Ocean.

In fact, it was more literal there, because some treasure you found could literally try to kill you and even succeed at that.

In the past fifty years, Yang Qing had read of at least seventeen Domain experts who lost their lives, not to some attack from another cultivator, but from the very pearl they successfully fished and opened, only to find a dangerous entity lurking in there, looking to claim their lives.

There were others whose injuries or deaths were not even intentional on the treasure’s part. Like Yang Qing had read of a second-stage Domain expert who ended up losing his cultivation realm when he opened his pearl, only to find an egg that was in the process of hatching. The egg swallowed the entire spiritual qi within that sect to the point of completely drying and ruining the lesser dragon vein that produced said qi.

When the dragon vein was drained to dust, it turned to the spiritual herbs and various treasures within the sect as alternative sources, and when those also proved insufficient, it turned to the cultivators.

That second-stage Domain expert had his entire spiritual qi drained, which ended up with him having his cultivation base crippled in the process, as the qi was absorbed from his cultivation base essence, his blood, and his spiritual essence. And he was not the only one. Twelve peak Palace Realm experts were crippled in the process, too. At the same time, there were various qi deviations experienced in the sect by those who were in seclusion and in a critical stage of their cultivation, with some even losing their lives, like those who were in the process of breaking through.

The entire sect instantly became a barren wasteland, with three-quarters of its force being forced into cripples, before that egg finally had enough energy to hatch. It gave birth to a special Dao life form: a Celestial Road Lark.

As bad as the circumstances were for that sect, they got lucky, because that lark was conscientious enough to join that sect to repay the damage it had done, even though it could have left if it wanted to. After all, immediately after hatching, it was already a Soul Formation expert; there was no one in the sect capable of calling it to account for the damage it had done. Even at full capacity, they would not have been able to, much less when three-quarters of their force was crippled.

That sect ended up experiencing options two and three. The sect was inadvertently destroyed, but at the same time, the Celestial Road Lark’s decision to join them brought them a Soul Formation expert.

Was it a worthy trade?