Daily life of a cultivation judge-Chapter 1111 - war and greed

1111: war and greed

1111: war and greed

Yang Qing doubted he would undergo any sort of evolution even if he did get his hands on some.

The Peerless Jade Physique was already said to be at the absolute peak of what any cultivator could achieve.

Still, even without a transformation, he would undoubtedly reap great benefits from nebulous yin qi—especially when it came to deepening his understanding of his own physique.

Who knows?

Maybe the qi could help part some of the fog surrounding it.

But all of that hinged on whether he could find any.

For all he knew, the Order didn’t have it.

If they did, he would have already tried to acquire some, no matter the cost.

Yet, in all his years, he had never seen it offered.

As stingy as the Order was, they were at least always transparent about what they had in stock.

As long as you had the merit points, you could redeem almost anything—no matter how rare.

If they had it, you could get it.

After all, how else would someone like him have gotten his hands on a mythical creature like the Celestial Nesting Weaver in the first place?

Even though that choice remained one of his deepest regrets to this day, it didn’t change the fact that—insufferable and incorrigible as it was—it was still a mythical creature.

And yet, Yang Qing had managed to obtain it simply because he had the merit points to do so.

So if the Order had nebulous yin qi somewhere in their vaults, he would have known.

He would have tried to redeem it—even knowing full well that they would fleece him dry for it.

It would be well worth the cost, no matter how high.

“Not that it matters now,” Yang Qing thought, pulling himself back from his musings.

A question had surfaced in his mind when he considered the wondrous properties of nebulous yin qi, and he turned to face Shao An and Ren Shu.

“I understand that nebulous yin qi is rare, but it isn’t extinct.

As long as the moon, the skies, and the heavens above exist, there will always be nebulous yin qi—albeit in scarce quantities.

But it’s still there, meaning the Aurora Dark Winter Jade Spruce Tribe should still be able to produce experts.

Even if their numbers are limited, the point remains: they will still have them.” Yang Qing paused briefly, his brows knitting together.

“Then how did they become so obscure that I’ve never even heard of them?

That level of erasure points to a race that’s nearly extinct, with time slowly wiping away all traces of their existence.

And from the way Senior Ren Shu phrased it earlier, it sounded like while they were rare to see, they were at least known.”

“They were…” Ren Shu affirmed.

“Then how did it come to this?” Yang Qing pressed.

“A mythical bloodline, coupled with such wondrous abilities—it wouldn’t be a stretch to say they must have had soul formation experts, right?”

“You’d be right in assuming so,” Ren Shu said with a slight nod.

“Nebulous yin qi is inherently difficult to find—for most—but surely it’s different for them,” Yang Qing said, pausing briefly to arrange his thoughts.

“Just like how I have an inherent sensitivity to yin and yang energies—to the flow of life and nature—that allows me to easily detect things baptized by them, the same should apply to them when it comes to nebulous yin qi.

“They have a nose for it.

And if they had a soul formation expert among them—rare as they are—that expert’s sensitivity should be even greater.

With someone like that, they should have been able to find places or natural treasures blessed with nebulous yin qi to sustain their tribe easily…

Yet they faded into obscurity?” Yang Qing’s frown deepened.

“Greed and war,” Shao An softly interjected.

“That’s the reason why,” he added.

“This continent has been ravaged by war for as long as history can remember,” Ren Shu chimed in with a slight sigh.

“At the peak of some of those wars, not even the void itself was safe.”

“For a tribe with limited places to live, one can only imagine how devastating a continent-wide war would be for them.

At least the Dark Yin Water Oak Tribe has the mythical Black Tortoise to rely on—the two share a symbiotic relationship.

But the Aurora Dark Winter Jade Spruce Tribe?

They have nothing to rely on but themselves and the nebulous yin qi.

Surviving…

it’s hard enough when you’re alone.”

Ren Shu’s gaze darkened.

“War is as unforgiving as it is merciless—and insatiable.

The same can be said for greed.

When the two come together, what they create is something truly terrifying.”

“There are few reports of it now, but during those countless wars, it wasn’t uncommon for soul formation experts to fall.

No one was truly safe—not the mortals below, nor the lofty figures above.

In the end, they all answered to the same master: death.”

“Countless legacies were lost—sects, clans, long-established empires, and even mundane villages that no one would ever remember.

And the mythical races were not spared either.

The Aurora Dark Winter Jade Spruce weren’t targeted more than others, but their circumstances made every loss they suffered hit them harder than most.

They couldn’t produce experts as quickly as they lost them, and before long, their numbers dwindled.

And with that decline, greed followed,” Ren Shu said, his tone and expression turning somber.

“No one can sense nebulous yin qi better than they can, and as you well know, places rich in unique qi tend to birth rare natural treasures—treasures which more often than not usually morph into natural dao treasures,” Ren Shu explained, his words causing Yang Qing’s expression to darken as a grim picture formed in his mind regarding the fate of the surviving Aurora Dark Winter Jade Spruce.

“Their members were captured, enslaved, and used like dogs to sniff out nebulous yin qi and the treasures hidden within those regions.

And slowly, they died out.

Some took their lives rather than live in such shame, while others tried to endure it, only to die just the same.

I have no doubt that some still exist, but after all they’ve endured, they’ve likely hidden themselves so deeply that they might as well be extinct…”