Daily life of a cultivation judge Chapter 1494: The last test (1)

The journey over was as smooth as it could be, the atmosphere sparkling and energetic, filled with scintillating conversation given that it was being steered by three individuals who could all be considered masters in the art of conversation.

It was to be expected, really. One was a seasoned merchant, and sparking conversation with almost anyone, sustaining it, and keeping it engaging were tools of the trade for such a figure. Another was a judge with a propensity for getting into trouble, and as such had perfected his skill in talking himself out of the various troubles he usually got himself into, not to mention his duties, where he interacted with all manner of characters. And as for the last member of the chattering party, he had a naturally curious mind and wasn’t afraid to indulge it heavily.

So with almost no effort, driven by natural instinct, Yang Qing, Li Gang, and Chen Yu got engrossed in conversation spanning different topics, which kept them occupied for the entire trip.

The three laughed, drank, ate, and traded tales of their experiences, with obviously embellished details in some of those tales from one or two of them. As for who embellished, it was hard to tell, given their natural talent for spinning tales and all-around gab.

The trip felt both long and short. Short, because they didn’t realize they had reached Gold Eagle Town until one of the Vast Blue staff members flying the ferry informed them of the fact. And long, because the three felt like they had talked for days, relishing every moment of it.

The ferry, under escort of one of the Silver Guards, was guided to the resting sector of Gold Eagle Town where flying ferries were parked, after which an entry procedure was carried out by the Silver Guard, and Li Gang and the other Vast Blue staff members were issued temporary identity tokens.

Yang Qing, for obvious reasons, didn’t need one. As for Chen Yu, he wasn’t handed one either, once he revealed his identity as a Blue Grade instructor from Jade Leaf Academy and his intent to visit the Order’s headquarters for a quick tour. Given the nature of his request and his identity, both necessitated a different procedure from Li Gang’s. The Silver Guard handling them would guide Chen Yu to the town’s highest authority, the administrator, who, upon confirming Chen Yu’s identity, would also handle all procedures needed to fulfill his request.

No doubt a member of the External Logistics Division would appear at the end of the request to act as a guide for Chen Yu, once all matters had been verified, which Yang Qing felt wouldn’t take long. The Order and Jade Leaf Academy had a close relationship, born from the various exchanges they’d had over the years. At the Institute, there were various Guest Instructors from Jade Leaf Academy, and the same was true at the Academy, which fielded Guest Instructors from the Institute.

Even the Medical Valley had such exchanges with Jade Leaf Academy.

As such, given the relationship between the two sides, verifying Chen Yu’s identity would not prove difficult or take much time. The same was true for the approval of his request to look around the Order.

Had it been a different organization, the approval would have likely taken time and would have also needed prior notice and deliberation from both sides before the matter was approved. But because Chen Yu was from Jade Leaf Academy, he could get away with making an impromptu visit without prior notice and have it approved with little to no delay, given the relationship the Order shared with Jade Leaf Academy.

The same would hold true for a member of Medical Saint Garden or the Thousand Battle Hall Pavilion. The relationship the Order had built with these two organizations allowed for impromptu visits and ease of entry for their members, and the same was true for Order members wanting to do the same at either of those organizations.

If Yang Qing wanted, he could easily be welcomed as a Guest Instructor at Jade Leaf Academy or the Thousand Battle Halls Pavilion by virtue of being a member of the Order. In fact, of the two, it was easier with the latter, because Order students, during their third year, had to spend three to six months at the Thousand Battle Halls Pavilion collecting combat badges, which was one of the requirements for them to proceed to the fourth year, and the same happened in reverse with disciples of the Thousand Battle Hall Pavilion.

For every seeded disciple to qualify for consideration as a seeded disciple of the Pavilion, they had to go through one of the survival tests the Order usually gave its students in their final year, as their final exam. The test was like a culmination of all tests, compiled into one to gauge how much of the Institute’s teachings they had absorbed. The goal of that test was simple: and remain conscious when the test ended. It didn’t matter what state you were in. You could have just a torso left and a single breath left in you. As long as you conscious and that breath didn’t leave you, it counted as a pass.

The test had no goal other than and . How you pulled that off was up to you.

The Purple Grade entrance test, which usually left the takers maimed at best, paled in comparison to that final exam. Three-quarters of Yang Qing’s deep-seated trauma about the Institute and the instructors, by and large, was born from that test. He wasn’t the only one given the brutality of that test. No oneurvived that test with all limbs intact. How could they, when part of the test was surviving an attack from a deranged and severely unstable Quasi Palace Realm prisoner, whose instability was courtesy of a personalized grooming session from the fiendish instructors and equally fiendish Requiem guards.

So you can be sure that prisoner had vast reserves of mental instability and an untethered level of violence to match. Not to mention the added incentive: the number of students they massacred in the most brutal way possible would be counted against the number of days they’d be spared another round of torture and torment once back in prison.

What happens when two cornered beasts, desperate for survival, face off against each other, each standing in the way of the other’s survival? Brutal violence of epic proportions, that’s what happened.

early-stage Core Formation experts, prodigiously talented and nurtured with manner of precious resource, cultivating the finest arts under the tutelage of terrifying monsters, faced off against one very desperate, very broken Quasi Palace Realm expert, with a gifted mind and a talent for violence, and highly incentivized to destroy his opponents in the most brutal way possible, .