Daily life of a cultivation judge-Chapter 992: Meeting of the parties (4)

Meng Jiayi looked like he had more to say but on seeing Fan Ha’s calm but obstinately determined look, he chose to keep them to himself as he indulged in the wine before albeit in a less jubilant mood than he had before.

With the introductions already done, brief silence ensued with Yu Gen filling in Yang Qing on some of the particulars he had uncovered about the matter.

Yang Qing couldn’t help but sigh in relief at the end. If matters were as Yu Gen had said, it was still salvageable, especially with the confirmation he received from Meifeng.

"The only problem that might occur is her," thought Yang Qing as his gaze fell on Fan Ha who seemed to be secretly chastising Fan Cai even the boy’s pallid yet slightly rebellious face was any indicator.

Yang Qing’s eyes flashed briefly before a crafty nigh imperceptible smile appeared on his face.

"Fan Cai was the one who initiated all this. I might as well fulfill his wishes even if I have to be a rogue to do it," he thought, having already formulated a plan.

"Besides..." his gaze lingered on Fan Ha slightly before diverting it when she seemed to have sensed it.

Of everyone present, she was the person with the highest cultivation base. Though he wasn’t completely certain of it, owing to the sizeable gaps in their cultivation base, Yang Qing had a feeling at the very least she had already reached the seventh stage of the palace realm.

Her aura was deeper and more profound than Xie Yuan’s who was a sixth-stage palace realm expert and having interacted with a few late-stage palace realm experts himself, Yang Qing felt increasingly certain that she was definitely a late-stage palace realm expert.

However, despite her realm, there was a frailty to her which though well concealed couldn’t escape his senses. Just like the previous sect master, Meng Jiayi, she also seemed to have damaged her foundation somewhat. Where the sect master’s situation seemed to be a result of an injury, hers was different. It felt like she was missing a certain part of herself which resulted in her present frailty.

"So that’s what happened," thought Yang Qing as his gaze alternated between her and Fan Cai.

Fan Ha, whose attention had been on Yang Qing since she sensed his presence on her, her pupils flickered slightly in surprise and fear when she saw Yang Qing’s gaze alternate between her and Fan Cai.

"What’s wrong?" asked Fan Cai in confusion when he felt his mother grasp him tightly on his left forearm.

"Nothing," she curtly answered as she removed her hand, leaving Fan Cai with a growing confusion as his eyes fell on the arm that she had held so tightly before his attention drifted to her.

"What’s with her? She seems odder than usual.. Didn’t the Starlight Lake Sect hold her captive? From their interaction, they seem close."

With his mother’s well-being, specifically her being alive already confirmed, Fan Cai had enough freedom of thought to analyze other things. He still believed something must have happened to his mother for her not to make it back four months ago as she had promised.

His money had been on the Starlight Lake Sect having a hand in it somehow but seeing their interaction with one another, he couldn’t help but feel his guess may have been off.

But if the Starlight Lake Sect had no hand in her delay, then who was? And why?

He may be young and unaccustomed to reading subtle cues and emotions, especially where humans were involved with the only human companions he had been around were the trafficker and his stoic mother. Other than that, he didn’t have much interaction with people, but as unaccustomed as he was, there was one thing he had grown adept at when it came to emotions and that was tension.

Having lived all his life tense around his mother, he could sniff it anywhere and its scent was thickest around his mother, Meng Jiayi, and Xie Yuan, especially the latter.

However, his growing thoughts were quickly pulled sideways when his attention drifted towards Meng Jiayi.

"If he is alive ...could Liu Jie also be alive?" thought Fan Cai with waves of emotion coursing through his body.

Over the years he had imagined what kind of person his father was and before his mother handed him that contract, he had nothing to go on other than the name Jie, and with the contract, he potentially got his full name and where he was from and now some part of him wanted to know more which only grew more after the scare he got with his mother.

Fan Cai darted a glancing look over to his mother before he quickly looked away.

"What?" Fan Ha cooly asked.

"Nothing," Fan Cai answered with a slightly dejected look.

"If I asked her, she likely wouldn’t tell me, just like always," thought Fan Cai.

Just as everyone was lost in their thoughts and worries, their attentions were all pulled back by the opening of the door.

The temperature seemed to have instantly dropped with the air heavy with tension.

That tension was broken by the joyous tone of a female.

"Boss I brought them on time. I expect a sizeable reward at the soup garden later."

The origin of that voice was a lady who looked to be in her mid-twenties wearing apricot robes that matched her bouncy tone and she had short wavy earth brown hair. The shining glint in her eyes and one could already tell she was someone with an excitable personality.

"Thanks, Xia Ting," Yang Qing said with a helpless smile, addressing the young lady in the apricot robes, who just like Yu Gen, was a roaming inquisitor attached to him, and a glutton Yang Qing wished he had little association with.

But the regrets would have to be shelved for later as behind her came two individuals. One of them was a young man who looked to be in his early thirties with short silver hair, a handsome appearance, and a polite and gentle demeanor. He had on white robes that had the emblem of a red-gold rose spewing silver white flames around it.

Behind was a middle-aged man who looked to be in his early forties donning black robes. He had a stern presence about him, and his robes as wide as they were didn’t seem to hide the robust build within. He had long black hair tied in a daoist topknot and a short well-trimmed beard.

He had the same authoritative presence as Xie Yuan, though his felt different. Where for Xie Yuan was more boundless and deep, he’s felt suffocating. One was a lake and the other was a mountain.

Fan Cai was protected by his mother from the middle-aged man’s explosive presence but even then he seemed too nervous to look at the middle-aged man for longer than five seconds.

The pressure the middle-aged man exuded wasn’t deliberate but rather a natural consequence. Yang Qing wasn’t all too sure but he felt that the middle-aged man likely had a special physique related to the earth attribute or he had an earth-based cultivation art that he had practiced to the peak that it transformed his entire presence in the process.

"With how all parties present and accounted for. Let’s begin with the introductions before proceeding to the meat and bones of today. I’ll start it off," said Yang Qing as he stood up to greet the newcomers

Borrowing from before, he said his name and post at the Order and proceeded to do introductions for both Xia Ting and Yu Gen before finally finishing it off with the team from the Starlight Lake Sect and Fan Cai who looked very relieved to not have to do his introductions.

Once he was done he left the floor to the two male cultivators. The younger looking of the two, the male cultivator who had a polite and amiable demeanor was called Li Tian and he was an envoy of the Silver Vermilion Rose and represented the pavilion in the matter whilst also offering apologies for the absence of Shi Wei, the elder who’s name was written in the contract as the witness and adjudicator of the agreement between Fan Ha and the Starlight Lake Sect.

Shi Wei was in seclusion, hence his absence, though if he had been present, Yang Qing would have had to request the presence of a domain expert in the arbitration since Shi Wei was a domain expert.

As to why a domain expert would bear witness to a deal between palace realm experts, Yang Qing figured it had something to do with the length of the contract. Only someone in the domain realm could be guaranteed to be alive during its duration.

Though absent, the Pavilion showed its due respect in sending Li Tian. He may not be a domain expert, but from his fluctuations, Yang Qing could tell he was the strongest person present and the reason for that was how inscrutable his presence was to Yang Qing. He felt vaguely unassuming and powerful at the same time to Yang Qing and if it wasn’t for him being constantly exposed to powerful palace realm cultivators since he was a wee little qi refinement cultivator, the powerful sensation he felt from Li Tian would have evaded.

The reaction was more of his sixth sense warning him that Li Tian was dangerously powerful.

As for the last member, the middle-aged man with a powerful presence. His name was Yu Hui, and he was the clan elder of the Yu family, which had been recently promoted to a rank two family, and by recent, that was about 200 years ago.

Yu Hui had the same energy levels as Fan Ha albeit slightly firmer, which showed at the very least he was in the same realm as her if not stronger.

Though he tried to hide it well, Yang Qing saw a look of gleeful contempt as his gaze fell on Meng Jiayi and Fan Ha while completely ignoring Xie Yuan who had completely lost her earlier calm demeanor and looked more like a rabid beast ready to strike.

If it wasn’t evident, the instigator of today’s events were the Yu family who had quite the history with the Starlight Lake Sect.

Updat𝒆d fr𝒐m freewebnσvel.cøm.