Daily life of a cultivation judge Chapter 1526: There is no rule breaking in this favor (1)

Whatever sense of calm and power the lesser dragon crystals in his storage seemed to give Yang Qing wavered in their effect the closer he got to the peak of the mountain. He had to keep consciously touching the storage ring to silence the anxious and long-buried embittered emotions churning within him, going even to the extent of confirming its contents and counting those crystals several times over with his spiritual sense to confirm their number and presence, all so he could feel confident.

It didn’t take long before he reached the peak, where he was greeted by a large five-storey pavilion, whose roof was littered in brown leaves that had dropped from the massive Harmonizing Rustle Beech Tree, whose canopy and height were several hundred meters above it. Its behemoth scale even formed a shadow over parts of the peak.

The atmosphere around that peak was tranquil, owing no doubt to the nature of its occupants, but also to that Harmonizing Rustle Beech Tree. The gentle sway of its branches and leaves seemed to just calm the surroundings, with it even affecting the wind itself. And the rhythm of it induced a sense of tranquility in all, including even Yang Qing, who felt the agitation in his spirit settle, though it still stubbornly hung on.

The fact that he could still remain unsettled even under the influence of a top-tier Ascendant Grade Spiritual Tree like this was a testament to the level of scarring this place had on him.

It wasn’t even necessarily the Blue Peak itself that had scarred him so, but the Formation Hall as a whole. But... Blue Peak, over the past few years, has been the growing contributor to his agitation, and it was all thanks to one individual... Zhang Rei.

Not wanting to spend more time here than he needed to, Yang Qing hastened through the open doors of the pavilion into the hallway, where to the right there was reception, if it could even be called that, given that the person there (a middle-aged man) looked heavily absorbed in moving the beads of his abacus, which, given the seriousness he wore, one would think he was calculating the continent’s economy, or that he was trying to solve some deep financial trouble that had the risk of affecting countless lives across countless businesses.

He didn’t even notice Yang Qing walk in, or if he did, he immediately decided the beads on the abacus were more important than the newcomer.

Yang Qing didn’t take offence, as he was no stranger to the sight and treatment.

Formation masters were eccentrics who easily got lost in their own worlds without much care for anything else, and it was no different for the middle-aged man serving as receptionist today, wholly absorbed in his abacus, which was in fact no abacus at all, but was a top-tier Monarch Grade artefact that had formation formulas and array puzzles inscribed on it for formation masters to solve.

From what Zhang Rei had told him, that abacus had close to five thousand Formation arrays and formulas, all inscribed by the Formation Hall’s Hall Master, and there was even a ranking system based on how many arrays and formulas one solved and completed, with rewards attached to it.

Of course, to these easily absorbed Formation Masters, knowing there were about five thousand arrays and formulas for them to solve was a reward in itself, as those arrays, given they were put there by a formation master at the cusp of becoming a Purple Grade Formation Master, were sure to test their knowledge and expand their horizons on what arrays could be.

Yang Qing could see the appeal. He’d tried it too, once, when he’d heard that one of the possible rewards of solving a certain number of those arrays was receiving a free formation upgrade in his abode. Alas, talented as Yang Qing was, and as clearly motivated as he had been, he couldn’t reach the required number of solves. He knew enough about formations to get by, and he could play around and dismantle most orange-grade formations in his sleep, and even a few low-tier blue-grade ones, but that abacus tested beyond fundamentals. It needed someone who had married the craft and dedicated their souls to it.

The Institute’s Introductory Guide and courses into Formation Arrays could take you only so far, before you hit a wall. Yang Qing’s wall was 377. It was a decent enough result and quite the accomplishment for someone whose field of craft wasn’t Formations, but alas, decent as the result was, it was still 323 arrays shy of what he needed to upgrade his abode’s formation array from low-tier to middle-tier.

Yang Qing muttered angrily under his breath, as that abacus yet again added to the growing list of grievances he held against the man.

"Is Zhang Rei around?" Yang Qing asked.

"His pavilion," the middle-aged man replied succinctly, without looking up.

Yang Qing nodded and cupped his fists in gratitude, before making his way deeper into the peak’s grounds, which looked just as vast a stretch of ground as the plain below.

It wasn’t his first time here, which meant he didn’t need much in the way of guidance to Zhang Rei’s pavilion... not that anyone would have offered it, if he needed it.

In no time, Yang Qing was standing outside a pavilion with the signage "Blossoming Pavilion," and a depiction of a lotus flower in full bloom right below those words.

Yang Qing took out a lotus flower from his storage ring, and using it, he bypassed the formation array guarding the Blossoming Pavilion and made his way inside. He passed through the hallway from the front door, made his way to the farthest end of it, and slid open the double sliding doors, revealing what looked to be a back garden filled with all manner of flowering plants, herbs, and shrubs. At the centre of it was a large pond with crystal-clear waters that reflected the surroundings in perfect clarity, and at its centre sat a young man in a lotus position, beneath a white lotus, seemingly in deep meditation with his eyes closed and his breathing even.

That young man looked to be about the same age as Yang Qing. He had a lean build, tall, and sat there, eyes closed, tranquil; he looked like a graceful swan, breathing relaxedly, resting atop the white lotus below. He was handsome, and had this honest, gentle elegance to him, with long black hair cascading down his back, and garbed in black and white robes.

"Yang Qing," the young man suddenly said, smiling as he slowly opened his eyes. "I didn’t think you’d be visiting me for a while," the figure added.

His eyes bloomed. The sclera and iris formed petals of different colours, and at the centre of both were black pupils, radiating with a mysterious light. The light flashed as he blinked, and his eyes turned normal; the petals disappeared, leaving a white sclera and deep amber-brown iris.

"If I didn’t have a choice, would I be here associating with a traitor," Yang Qing scoffed as he walked towards the pond, where another lotus had appeared at the gentle beckoning wave of the young man at the centre.

The young man smiled wryly at the accusation. "I told you, it couldn’t be helped. I am just a blue-grade formation master. I have no say whatsoever when it comes to doing upgrades on credit... if I did, there’s no way I would have refused."

"Excuses," Yang Qing said dismissively as he took his seat on the lotus that had appeared, looking coldly at the awkwardly smiling young man.

"You’ve improved, Zhang Rei," Yang Qing commented dispassionately, his pupils turning pure white and gold as he studied his surroundings before settling back on Zhang Rei. "I guess congratulations are in order. It won’t be long now before you’re conferred as Blue Peak Pavilion Master."

"I am still far from it. There are many seniors ahead of me, and I still have much more to learn," Zhang Rei said humbly. He waved his sleeve, and on one of the sepals hanging between their lotus flowers, a kettle and plate with a mountainous pile of spring rolls appeared.

Without asking, he poured Yang Qing a cup of warm, light red jujube tea, before pouring himself one.

Yang Qing nodded his head lightly as thanks, even though his expression remained impassive, which was almost never the case when food entered the picture.

Zhang Rei smiled helplessly at Yang Qing’s impassive expression, growing all the more awkward in his smile as Yang Qing ate his spring rolls and drank his tea, all without breaking eye contact with him, his expression clearly saying, "I have a grudge against you."

His expressionless, cold eyes still on Zhang Rei, Yang Qing placed his tea aside and gently levitated his storage ring to Zhang Rei’s hands, who looked at Yang Qing questioningly.

"In there you will find the number of lesser dragon jade crystals needed to upgrade my abode’s array to middle-tier," Yang Qing commented placidly, using the half-eaten spring roll in his hand to point at the storage.

His lips curled into a sneer. "How much was it again? Thirty-five thousand, was it? You will find all of them there. Feel free to count if you want, ."