Daily life of a cultivation judge

Yang Qing lost himself to the wondrous state of contemplation. One of the guiding motivations as to why he was so diligent in his cultivation was to grow his strength so he wouldn't end up dying as some fodder somewhere without any idea of how he died. His greed wasn't just towards food and treasures, but for his life too, and when it came down to it, life took precedence over all the rest.

Fear of dying was what kept him diligent and persistent in his efforts, but it wasn't the only thing that kept him going. Unbridled curiosity and fascination were also compelling factors.

If immortality did exist, and by luck, he managed to reach that realm, fear and the desperate need to grow his strength would cease to be a factor in whether he continued cultivating or not, or diligently at that.

At that point, he would be immortal with little to no concerns for his life, provided he had numerous means to safeguard his life. On his list of potential threats, the deadliest one, aging would no longer be of concern. With a limitless lifespan, he would no longer need to worry about that noose hanging around his neck.

When it came down to it, provided he could guarantee his life beyond a reasonable doubt, he could care less about being the most powerful cultivator out there.

At that point, the only thing that could motivate him to keep cultivating would be the countless mysteries waiting to be unraveled. Studying the profound truths and principles of the world, visiting wondrous places with all sorts of mystical phenomena, restoring lost arts, crafting new ones to better explain the mysteries he had solved, and inventing others to bring even more mysteries to light...

Those would be the things that would keep him going and even now, on days when fear had lost its strength as a motivator, curiosity and mystery easily stepped in.

This was why he loved fiddling with cultivation arts, whether they were complete, incomplete, broken, weak, or high. Regardless of their condition or rank, he always felt the same boundless excitement welling up within him whenever he explored them.

These arts were windows into those mysteries—each one offering a glimpse into a different aspect of the world.

Cultivation arts were, by design, a cultivator's understanding of a particular phenomenon of the fundamental laws and principles of the world. Whether it was a white-grade art, the lowest in the group, or a purple-grade art, the highest of the group, any cultivation art must touch on the governing worldly principles and laws for it to form and function.

To Yang Qing, creating, improving, or mastering an art all meant that one had taken a peek toward understanding a particular law of the world. With that understanding, they could notice, see, and interact with more mysterious things in the world around them. And it wasn't just cultivation arts; treasures had stories of their own, and Yang Qing was a sucker for them.

It was why, even in deep contemplation, there was a child-like, satisfied smile on his face as he filtered through the countless insights flooding his mind about the Brilliant Ray Fist Art.

Even if two days passed without him making any improvements on it, he would still leave here feeling fulfilled.

Of course, he hoped to have something to show for his efforts here, but if it didn't come, he would still feel satisfied nonetheless. The sense of exhilaration he felt now as he combed through his cultivation made it more than worthwhile.

Five hours flew by as Yang Qing lost himself, sinking ever deeper into the boundless calm of enlightenment. The ethereal heart serenity jade beside him pulsed in a slow, gentle rhythm, releasing an orange glow that undulated like a quiet breath. Its light seemed to wrap around him, soft and warm, reaching into the recesses of his mind and amplifying his thoughts until they felt tangible. Each insight bloomed within him like a spark in the dark, illuminating fleeting truths and half-formed mysteries as they surfaced.

He could feel the jade's resonance with the environment around him, working in tangent with the guiding power of Sage Mountain. The countless manifestations in his mind became more vivid, almost like stars in a vast night sky, each one holding a potential path, a piece of hidden knowledge waiting to be discovered. Every beat, every glow, seemed to draw him further in, until he felt as if he were drifting through an endless expanse of thought; free, weightless, and fully absorbed in the depths of his own mind and heart.

..

The Sage Mountain helped cultivators birth innumerable insights on whatever aspect they were focused on, provided they had a certain level of understanding toward the matter. In Yang Qing's case, the insights he gained concerning the Brilliant Ray Fist Art in those few hours numbered in the thousands, multiple times more than what he would have otherwise achieved.

That being said, even if Sage Mountain helped him gain thousands of insights, it didn't mean that those insights were flawless. He had to constantly feel his way through them, analyzing each one, trying to glean as much as he could from them and eliminate those that didn't align with the essence he had for the Brilliant Ray Fist Art, which by design was also a reflection of his own heart.

This would have been a tedious effort if the insights he was deducing were not based on a cultivation art he invented himself or if he didn't have the ethereal heart serenity jade platform that strengthened the clarity of his heart, which in turn gave a huge boost to his perception of falsehoods and truths in those insights.

"Falsehood" didn't mean the insights were entirely wrong; they just weren't right for him and what he sought to pursue.

Yang Qing's smile shone in excitement as he sifted through those insights. The flood of insights pushing through was like a furnace for him, a furnace that helped polish his heart and in doing so helped him part, ever so slightly, the fog in his path. The clearer it was, the easier it would be for him to walk on it without constantly groping in blindness.

The more insights he had to work with, the greater the demand it was on him to glean enlightenment into the truths and falsehoods between them. The better he got at it, the deeper his powers of perception and comprehension of his Dao grew. This would, in no small part, help pave his way to the domain realm.

During his time at the Institute, Yu Hong, the Assistant Dean of Cultivation Arts History and Dissection, and also Yu Huifeng's father, once said that while there was a huge difference between the palace realm and the domain realm in terms of ability, if the power aspect of it was removed, at their essence, the palace realm and domain realm could be considered one path.

He called that path "the guiding or enlightenment path to one's heart."

What he meant by that was that the journey from the palace realm to the domain realm could be considered one journey, and the only way to walk that journey was to see through truths and illusions, all with the goal of finding the one path suited to the fundamental nature of your Dao and using it to pave forward to the Soul Formation Realm.

Only when one found that path, and walked it to the end, would they finally be able to form a resonant spirit with the Dao they pursued.

That journey demanded greatly on one's powers of comprehension and perception of the world around them and themselves.

This was why, despite the Soul Formation realm having a tribulation that was less fatal than that of the domain realm, there were still fewer Soul Formation experts than there were domain experts.

Yang Qing was miles away from that stage; all the insights were helping him do now was just lend a little strength to his eyes so he could see slightly through the fog. His vision was still blurry, and even if he could see past the fog, all he would find were countless unrecognizable paths buried deep in rubble, mud, and other debris that would require a tremendous effort on his part to clear them one by one.

He was still groping in the dark, but at least he was slowly gaining the knowledge required to create a source of light to illuminate a bit of that darkness.

Another two hours slipped by as Yang Qing remained rooted in his meditation. A change took place—the skin on his body began to glow with a radiant light, as though he shone with the essence of the Grand Dao itself, an ethereal and mystical aura emanating from him. He was so absorbed in contemplation, that he didn't notice the faint flicker of light from the scroll behind him, resonating in harmony with the glow spreading out from his body.