Daily life of a cultivation judge

After recomposing himself, Yang Qing took out the flaming leaves and handed them to the young lady.

"This is yours, you deserve it, also you can have this. It should help with your pond. It's an azure pearlrose produced by a deepwater frost oyster. It should improve the yin essence of your pond.." Yang Qing said as he pulled out a small pearl that released an incandescent glow that was a mixture of pink and blue surrounded by a frosty glow.

The temperature in the cavern dropped tremendously when it appeared.

The young lady's eyes instantly lit up when she saw this.

"You're giving me this?" she asked in disbelief.

"Yes.." Yang Qing gently answered.

The young lady suddenly went on guard as she warily stared at Yang Qing while asking,

"What is it you want, mister? Lady Gild said humans never do anything for nothing. The green flaming leaves are already plenty.

Do you...do you...want to marry me? I am sorry mister but this body isn't real and is just a clone I built with my fruits. I can only maintain it within a 5-kilometer range of my main body.." said the woman as she pointed at the tree behind her.

Her demeanor suddenly changed as she turned shy with her head lowered as she said,

"but if you stay here, I could consider it and I heard from Lady Gild if I reach the domain realm my body can go further and if I reach the soul formation realm there is nowhere I can't travel.

I don't know how long it will take for me to reach the soul formation, but if you're willing to wait, I'll accept your proposal then.."

Her voice turned bashful and low toward the end.

From the moment Yang Qing walked within her territory she could feel a tantalizing scent she couldn't quite explain. It was mystical and all-encompassing like that of a mother tree from which all trees were birthed.

It was why despite her reservations, she found herself opening up and entertaining his questions. She felt a certain sense of affinity with him. 

"Huh, what are you talking about?!" asked Yang Qing with a stupefied expression.

"You're not proposing?" asked the young lady with an innocent and dumbfounded expression.

"But Lady Gild said if a human gives you something expression they want to marry you.." she innocently added as she held her chin.

"What has Lady Gild been teaching you?! No, I am not asking you to marry me!!!!" Yang Qing said in exasperation as he hurriedly looked behind him for fear that someone might be eavesdropping on their conversation.

This was a misunderstanding he didn't want floating around. He would never live it down if such information got around.

The clone before him was a looker but in essence, she was a fruit. He could already imagine Kang Huilang's mocking face as he mocked him endlessly and mercilessly for proposing to a fruit.

Yang Qing forcibly wiped away the imagined memory as he calmed his breathing.

"If you feel you're profiting too much, then you can offer some of the fruits in exchange.." said Yang Qing with some wariness.

First sniffing, then proposal, he was worried about what this enchanting beauty before him might pull next.

"Fruits, you're sure it's enough?" dubiously asked the young lady.

"Yes, it's one of the reasons I came here. I have a friend that can make great wine with them.."

Rather than beat around the bush, Yang Qing decided to be upfront lest another misunderstanding occurs.

"If that's all you want, then you can have thirteen of the.." the young woman said with a look that said she didn't completely believe all Yang Qing wanted were just the fruits.

"It's not that I'm being stingy, the rest aren't ripe yet and I need a few of them to create clones, otherwise I would give them all to you.." she added, as if afraid Yang Qing would misunderstand her and take back the pearl.

The azure pearlrose was something instrumental to her cultivation same as the green flame leaves. All her abilities especially the mind befuddling and illusory abilities were centered around yin energy. 

At the bottom of the dark pond was a batch of yin essence midnight grass which supplied her with the much-needed yin energy for her cultivation and abilities. However, the level of yin energy contained in them had dwindled, and would continue to do so until she replenished them, and with her mobility issues her options were limited.

Her only means was if her spores managed to spot a corpse rich in yin energy and bring it back, but such creatures were rare even around the Deer Mountain Range.

The yin essence midnight grass was something Lady Gild had given her when she broke through to the core formation realm and 15,000 years have passed since then.

Over the years, the decreasing yin levels of the pond have been a growing concern for her especially with Lady Gild disappearing for almost 5,000 years, Adler sleeping or atoning for all the years she hasn't seen him around or Badger gone to strengthen himself. Her options for remedying the situation were limited but with the azure pearlrose, those concerns were immediately dealt with.

She could sense that the yin energy within the pearl was capable of sustaining for at least a few thousand years and that was without taking the remaining yin essence midnight grass into account.

With an agreement reached, the young lady stretched out her hand and thirteen ripe red fruits with purple stripes appeared in her hand which she gave to Yang Qing who gave her the green leaves and the azure pearlrose.

The young lady carefully placed the pearl into the dark pond which instantly transformed the dark pond's look. It was no longer an ink-black sky but now had a swirling blue-pink cluster within it. It felt like one was staring at the deep cosmos.

The current view of the pond coupled with the ethereal and majestic look of the parasitic purple flower spore sycamore tree created a mesmerizing view that one could only imagine. Yang Qing felt like he had been transported to a starlight dreamscape.

"Would you like to share a drink with me?" asked Yang Qing as he soaked in the view that gave him the urge to have wine and fried scallops.

"Sure.." answered the lady with an enchanting and mesmerizing smile as she pulled her hair back behind her ears.

Yang Qing couldn't help but admit that Lady Gild whom she copied was a beauty.

Yang Qing took out a bamboo jar that contained frostberry wine brewed by Yi Jie and poured both he and the young lady some while taking out a basket of crispy brown deep-fried scallops.

The duo toasted each other and each took a gulp.

"This is quite the sight. Drinking under such a sight makes the food and wine taste better.." Yang Qing said with an exuberated sigh.

"That it is.." said an unfamiliar voice that seemed to carry the echoes of eternity.

Yang Qing and the young lady hurriedly turned toward the source of that voice which was a middle-aged man with greying white temples, a simple robe, and a brown conical hat.

He looked like a simple farmer out on a stroll but that simple-looking man had reached both Yang Qing and the young lady without any of them sensing.

Yang Qing's pupils shrunk as he could detect nothing coming from the middle-aged man other than he was standing before him.