Daily life of a cultivation judge Chapter 1511: Twenty million (2)

"Ancestral Dragon Vein? You want to tell me I’m sitting on an Ancestral Dragon Vein?" Yang Qing asked skeptically before breaking into a contemptuous laugh.

"I have to give it to you," he said between bouts of laughter. "At least you put more effort into your excuse this time... hahaha... Ancestral Dragon Vein. That’s a good one.

Maybe the next time Old Lei tries to reprimand me for something, I should tell him I’m a Soul Formation expert concealing my cultivation, or some reincarnated immortal... Ancestral Dragon Vein," Yang Qing said, laughing so hard he had to wipe the tears from his eyes.

"I guess that’s why you’re the mythical race. Unmatched even in making things up."

"It’s your coin. Do with it as you will. Just don’t say I didn’t warn you. Hearing you complain five days a week about being poor, about the Order having an agenda against you, about them bleeding you dry, or listening to your unhinged snickering whenever you’re concocting another half-baked revenge scheme against them is torture enough without adding the inevitable crying and manic laughter you’ll have once that coin disappears and gets refined by the main body of that Ancestral Dragon Vein.

So go ahead. Feed that coin to the vein and get the Mature Dragon Vein you’ve been fantasizing about bragging over.

Go on...

Do it," Shitong said almost enchantingly.

Yang Qing, who had been laughing moments ago, suddenly froze as doubt crept across his face.

Then he laughed again, trying to brush off Shitong’s warning as nothing more than the lies of a vindictive, scheming sore loser.

But the laughter lacked the liveliness it had before.

Frowning, he said, "Nice try, Shitong."

"Okay," came Shitong’s nonchalant reply.

Yang Qing’s frown deepened, and this time no amount of forced laughter could smooth it away.

"You’re lying," Yang Qing retorted as he deployed his spiritual sense to examine the spiritual vein beneath his abode.

The thorough inspection uncovered nothing new. It was still the same Lesser Dragon Vein that had come with the abode. The only noticeable changes were the influences of his own spiritual qi and the Green Flame Tree on the characteristics of the spiritual qi it produced. In every other respect, it remained an ordinary Lesser Dragon Vein.

And yet, despite the results of his inspection, he found himself growing even more uncertain.

"You’re... lying, aren’t you?" Yang Qing asked weakly.

Shitong didn’t reply.

"Shitong, tell me you’re lying," Yang Qing immediately followed in the ensuing silence, the weight in his voice teetering between a plea and a demand. "Say you’re lying."

There was more threat in his tone this time.

Shitong still didn’t answer.

Yang Qing did, however, hear him chuckle.

The sound sent him seething. He rose to his feet and stormed toward the nest

His movements abruptly halted when he sensed a reaction from his communication talisman.

"The senior has agreed to see you," came Long Enlai’s voice when Yang Qing answered.

"She did?" Yang Qing said, sounding pleasantly surprised.

"She did. You can go see her now if you want. Assistant Director Jun Pei will be there to guide you to the senior," Long Enlai added.

"Yang Qing?" Long Enlai called when several seconds passed without a response.

"Sorry," Yang Qing quickly apologized before adding, "Thank you very much for your assistance, Senior, and that of the other seniors. Thank you."

"No problem. Once the case is over, let us know how it goes. And if you need any more assistance, just ask."

"I will," Yang Qing said, his voice still heavy with gratitude.

Just as he was about to end the call, his gaze fell on the Green Flame Tree.

He paused as something suddenly took root in his mind.

For a brief moment, he silently wrestled with himself before finally asking tentatively, "Senior... may I ask you something?"

"It’s not related to the case, though," he hurriedly added.

"Sure. What is it?" Long Enlai replied gently.

After another brief bout of hesitation, Yang Qing cautiously glanced toward the nest. Even without looking directly at it, he could practically feel Shitong’s smug stare boring into him.

Steeling himself, he finally asked, "Our abode..." He faltered before hurriedly blurting out, "Are the spiritual veins in our abodes connected to an Ancestral Dragon Vein?"

The question came out in one breath, as though he feared he might lose the courage to ask if he slowed his speech for even a second.

Long Enlai didn’t respond immediately, sending Yang Qing’s mind into a panic as he feared he had asked something he shouldn’t have. For some inexplicable reason, a part of him even started feeling as though Old Lei were standing somewhere inside his abode.

he vowed.

After what felt like weeks of agonizing silence to Yang Qing, though in reality only two seconds had passed, Long Enlai finally replied in the same grandfatherly, gentle tone.

"So that is what you wanted to ask. Given how serious you sounded, I thought it was something else.

To answer your question... yes. The spiritual veins in our abodes all branch from an Ancestral Dragon Vein."

Yang Qing’s face stiffened.

"Listen, Yang Qing..." Long Enlai continued gently, a trace of hesitation entering his voice. "It takes a significant amount of merit points to connect your spiritual vein to the heart of its parent Ancestral Dragon Vein and allow it to fully manifest as an Ancestral Vein.

I know the Lesser Dragon Vein you have now might not seem like much, but it still carries many of the properties of the Ancestral Dragon Vein from which it branched. That is more than enough to meet your current needs, and even after you reach the Domain Realm, it will continue serving you well.

By then, you’ll also be more than qualified to have it upgraded to a Mature Dragon Vein should you choose to remain in your current abode. And if you have accumulated enough merit points by that time, you could even upgrade it further into a true Ancestral Dragon Vein.

But for now... please be patient," he advised kindly.

Yang Qing, on the other hand, was blinking furiously as his gaze darted between the coin in his palm, the patch of grass beneath him, and the nest before returning to the coin once more.

He swallowed to moisten his suddenly dry throat. Nobody liked a dry throat.

Just as nobody liked losing an invaluable treasure only to enrich someone else.

His back turned cold with sweat as the realization of what he had almost done sank in.

"Yang Qing? Are you there?" Long Enlai called softly, pulling him out of his fright.

"Senior..." Yang Qing said tentatively. "Out of curiosity... how many merit points would it take?"

His back grew even colder when he heard Long Enlai sigh.

"As you are now, it would take about twenty or so... million merit poi—"

Long Enlai never got to finish.

Yang Qing’s fight-or-flight instinct kicked in, and he clenched his communication talisman with enough force to abruptly sever the connection.

"Twenty..." he muttered, his face draining of color as though he had just witnessed something unspeakably horrifying.

He walked out of his abode absentmindedly. By the time he came to his senses, he found himself face to face with Assistant Director Jun Pei.

She had greeted his arrival with a warm smile, but the smile quickly faded into concern when she caught sight of Yang Qing’s absent-minded, ghostly expression.

"Are you okay?" she asked as she leaned in, checking him over to see if something was wrong.

Yang Qing let out a hollow chuckle before muttering,

"Twenty million..."