Daily life of a cultivation judge-Chapter 957: True earth

"Shall we start?" Yang Qing excitedly said without even waiting for Song Chuanli’s response he was already standing atop the circular platform with sigils symbolizing the five elements.

Song Chuanli nodded as he walked to the remaining one. In unison, both he and Yang Qing closed their eyes breathing in and out and every time they did a fog-like mist was released from their mouth every time they exhaled. Within seconds they were entirely shrouded in the fog.

"Where did they go?" asked Ma Yuan who had been paying attention to what they were doing as soon as they stepped on the platform. He saw them producing the fog, but for some reason the moment the fog surrounded them it was like they had vanished.

"They haven’t gone anywhere, they will reappear. They’re just synchronizing themselves with the surroundings so they can move the continental five-element soil," answered one of the cleansing beetles.

"Sorry seniors for being distracted," Ma Yuan hurriedly said the instant he heard one of the beetles talk.

"Are you going to be like this the whole time you are here?" asked one of the beetles with clear exasperation in its voice evidenced by how it was shaking its head.

"We already told you we won’t eat you. Your name is Ma Yuan, right?" asked the third of the four cleansing beetles.

"It is," Ma Yuan answered softly feeling guilty and embarrassed about his behavior. But he couldn’t help himself. Becoming aware of his mortality made him sensitive and wary of his surroundings. Seeing threats all around, and being fearful and wary because of it. With the constant thought that he was all Ma Ling had, and his crippled cultivation base, he realized he had become fidgety, and maybe even slightly cowardly as a result as evidenced by his earlier display.

The last of the cleansing beetles whom Ma Yuan assumed may have been their leader or at least the eldest of the four because of how the other three stood next to it, spoke.

"You must have your reasons for your actions, but if you hope to learn anything for the time you will be here, you will need to find a way to relax your mind and let yourself soak everything in. If you remain as wound up as you are, then following us around will be a fruitless endeavor.

You won’t be able to learn anything like that. Maybe we need to start him at the sacred heart peony. What do you guys think?" asked the beetle, directing its question at its three compatriots.

Ma Yuan didn’t know whether it was by design or maybe because the four cleansing beetles might be true siblings, but they all sounded the same. A soft gentle sound that made one feel like they were listening to the sound of a flowing river during spring.

"I think it would be best. Sister Peony has always been good at calming the soul, hopefully, it will be enough, especially with how wound up he is," said the second cleansing beetle as its compound eyes fell on Ma Yuan.

With their beetle form, it was hard to tell their emotions based on facial expressions, but Ma Yuan somehow could tell that they all showed the same look an elder would have in front of a problematic junior, which only made him feel even more ashamed of his current state.

"I am sorry seniors," he said as he lowered his head slightly.

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All beetles let out human-like sighs in unison, before one of them spoke up, which prompted Ma Yuan to look up.

"Oh, the show is about to start. Make sure to pay attention, Ma Yuan,"

Ma Yuan on sensing the excitement and respect in that beetle’s tone looked up. Just as he did he felt a faint trembling of the ground that quickly mushroomed in scale that he thought an earthquake had befallen the area. He was well on his way to seek cover, but he paused his movements when he saw all four beetles remained unmoving with their eyes focused on where Yang Qing and the mysterious elderly core formation expert had disappeared.

Driven by curiosity, he turned that way too, and the grey fog that was there was no more, in its place was a colorful rainbow-like wave that carried a wholesome power that seemed to contain the laws of the world within it. He could feel himself get drawn into the lights.

The scene before him started changing as he saw Yang Qing and Song Chuanli move their hands in unison like they were creating water waves with their palms. Every time they moved their hands, the ethereal colorful wave around them that looked like a heavenly mirage would move and the colors within it would shift places and every time they did, Ma Yuan would feel the loud rumbling within his feet.

Only after he had ascertained the source of the loud tremors was he able to finally notice that the soil around him which was a mix of five colors; gold, blue, green, red, and orange, was moving around and the tremors happening around were because of their movement.

Every time they moved, to him it felt like the literal ground was moving.

"What is this soil?" he muttered in stupefaction which only grew ever so deeply when he saw what seemed to be Yang Qing sweating. In all the time that they had sparred together, not once did he ever see him produce even a single drop of sweat but here he was with already few drops forming over his hair line and the number seemed to be growing with every move of his hands which was like a flowing water wave.

Ma Yuan thought he would see the same in Song Chuanli only to find there was no drop of sweat in him, and while both Yang Qing’s and Song Chuanli’s movements seemed easy, free-flowing, and unstrained, even without the sweat that had formed on Yang Qing’s face, intuitively Ma Yuan felt like Song Chuanli seemed to be having an easier time than Yang Qing in doing whatever it is they were doing.

His attention moved back to the soil around him. While he didn’t know what the two were doing, what he could infer was it had something to do with the soil beneath him as it was the only thing that seemed to be moving.

"Are you curious about it?" asked one of the beetles, with a bit of goading to his tone.

Ma Yuan seeing no reason to hide it, responded honestly, "I am,"

Seemingly pleased with his honesty, the beetle slightly nodded its head as it said,

"As you should. The soil you see before you could be considered the most precious thing in this entire abode.."

Ma Yuan’s eyes widened in disbelief before his eyesight inadvertently fell on the divine pollen tree of manifestation and very briefly on the tree Yang Qing had warned him not to stare at it for long.

"Yes, even more than the divine pollen tree or the eternal night oak tree," said the beetle when it saw where Ma Yuan’s gaze fell.

"None of them would have been able to take root without the continental five elemental soil, otherwise known as true earth. Only something monstrous and wonderous would be able to support the growth of something monstrous and wonderous, and this soil is one of those monstrous elements," the beetle added as its eyes drifted over Song Chuanli before falling back to Ma Yuan.

Even if he knew the cleansing wasn’t deceiving him and what it said made sense, he still found it all unbelievable. He could agree that the soil seemed special but to call it the most precious object here, Ma Yuan found it hard to reconcile that fact, not with what he had seen around.

"Seeing is believing. Why do you think little Yang Qing is sweating over there," one of the beetles said as it used one of its legs to point.

"You’ve interacted with him long enough to know how talented and powerful he is but yet a talented palace realm cultivator like him who could stare comfortably into the eternal night oak tree for hours on end even as a foundation establishment cultivator, without risk, yet here he is, sweating.

Something not commonly seen on palace realm cultivators let alone monstrous geniuses like him. What would it take to make someone like that sweat in just seconds?"

The beetle’s questions struck the nail in the head prompting Ma Yuan to look deeply at the soil, looking to uncover what it was that made it special.

"You can try picking one up," suggested one of the beetles which Ma Yuan obliged as he bent down and cupped his hands as he looked to scoop some up. Just as he was about to scoop it up he felt a retaliatory force bombard his body the instant he made contact with the soil. He felt like an entire planet had barrelled through his body.

He keeled over from the force as he felt dizzy and started vomiting, only nothing came out. An overbearing pressure and pain assaulted every part of his body and just as he thought he was about to pass out from the force and pain, it all vanished in an instant, prompting him to grasp for air as he broke out into hacks of coughs in the process.

When he came to his senses he immediately stood up in a hurry afraid that the force would hit him again.

"See, I told you it was special," muttered the beetle that egged him on.

"Was that necessary?" softly berated their leader.

"He wouldn’t have believed it otherwise. When seeing isn’t enough, one needs to feel," answered the beetle.

"Are you okay?" asked the leader with concern in his voice as he moved over to help Ma Yuan stabilize himself.

"I am okay. Thanks for your concern senior," Ma Yuan answered as he accepted the assistance from the beetle. He was still shaken, afraid that would fall over and experience that whole feeling again. The look of curiosity he had a moment earlier for the soil, was now one of fear.

"The reason it’s called continental soil, or true earth is because it is believed in some circles to be the first soil to ever form when the earth was formed. Whether that is true or not is of no importance, what is true though is that each grain weighs the same as a continent, hence its name.

The only way to move it is to have finite control over the five elements at an intrinsic level. The boss and little Yang Qing are using their understanding of the five elements to move them around to achieve a perfect harmony of the elements around this entire abode.

The reason the plants around could grow this well is because of the soil, but the soil needs to be moved around in response to the elemental needs of the plants and their surroundings to avoid oversaturation and deficiency.

What the boss and little Qing are doing is expanding their senses and using their understanding to detect the levels of the elements in every area and moving each grain of the continental five-element soil in response to their findings.

It is something that requires great concentration and ability. The pressure you experienced is just but a drop to what they are enduring at the moment. Even we can’t move this soil, the best we can do is clean up a bit here and there after they are done," the leader of the beetles said with veneration in its voice.

Ma Yuan’s spine shuddered as he tried to imagine what Yang Qing and Song Chuanli were enduring if what he experienced was but a drop to theirs and just like that Ma Yuan and the four beetles stood still for hours as they watched the duo move in synchronicity. As time moved, Ma Yuan truly felt the grandeur of what they were doing as it really seemed like the earth was being shifted.

In the end Yang Qing’s entire robe was soaked wet with his breathing slightly labored but his eyes were filled with thrill and energy.