Daily life of a cultivation judge

Following Wang Siyi's statement, Yang Qing waved over one of the staff members to make the order. He ordered a few dishes and wine and even made a point to order the 'Golden Lotus Delight'. It was one of the better cakes made by the restaurant and packed with flavors too. It was made from layers of delicate sponge cake infused with golden lotus flower essence, sandwiched between layers of light cream, and at the top were a few edible sweet sepals from the golden lotus flower.

With the Zou siblings coming over, the flavors of the cake could help them adjust from the trauma and shock long enough to string a few thoughts and sentences together.

"What happened to the head of the Flying Serpent gang and any other remnants, oh and yeah the blood fiend cultivator, Ling Shi.." asked Yang Qing.

Wang Huiying took a brief moment to collect her thoughts before she said,

"The head of the Flying Serpents Gang and the other surviving members of the gang were scooped up by your branch at the Yellow Plains County.

Once we reported the presence of blood-fiend cultivators in Purple City, the City Lord and us agreed it was better to involve you as we didn't know what those blood-fiend cultivators were after in Purple City in the first place.

We did also inform the Emperor, but he was otherwise preoccupied with other matters.."

Wang Huiyin and her husband gazed meaningfully at Yang Qing as she said this and Yang Qing could guess why. Previously when he had been at their restaurant he had casually asked them about the identities of the few people he had fought with as they tried to kidnap Ellie. One had been the child of one of the leaders of the Golden Bamboo Pavilion, while the other two, one had been the former emperor of the Red Maple Empire, and also the present Emperor's grandfather, Duan Hou. At the same time, the third culprit had been the branch leader of the Golden Bamboo Pavilion branch within the Empire. He was called Yao De and he was sworn brothers with Duan Hou.

After the fight, Yang Qing had the three held for questioning at the branch in Yellow Plains County. Their wanton disregard and attempt to kidnap Ellie despite knowing she had a partner made Yang Qing assume it wasn't the first time that the three behaved that way. The former emperor, Duan Hou, and the branch leader Yao De catering to the demands of the arrogant and spoiled Lin Duyi, who was the only child of Lin Guiren, one of the domain experts and leaders of the Golden Bamboo Pavillion.

From the little bit of research, he did before and after he visited Purple City, he knew the Red Maple Empire, more so the royal family was backed by the Golden Bamboo Pavilion, which was why most of their subsidiaries could be seen densely spread about through most of their prosperous cities.

Yang Qing didn't know the exact details of their partnership, but he felt it was more of a subordinate than a partner when it came to the two. The reason for this discounting the strength of the Golden Bamboo Pavilion, the Empire's enemy, the Five Clover Kingdom was backed by the rank 2 Clan, the Zou family. The only way the Red Maple Empire could contest against the Kingdom was if they had a backing at the same level as the Zou family, which they did in the Golden Bamboo Pavilion.

With such a relationship, it wasn't strange that the young scion of the Golden Bamboo Pavilion behaved as he did, and why the former emperor behaved as his lackey. The scion's behavior and the Empire's attitude toward him made it highly likely for similar incidents to have occurred and covered up.

Yang Qing left the leg work to the Yellow Plains County branch and would likely be able to dig up more than an inquisitor from the main branch, while Yang Qing would handle the case if they indeed found something to his suspicions. However because the case potentially involved the Golden Bamboo Pavilion, it needed a domain judge to be involved. Luckily for him, there was one within their ranks who had some history with one of the founders of the Golden Bamboo Pavilion. It was a domain inner court judge by the name of Hou Dehui.

"I think Branch Chief Luo Xiaofan should have already gathered everything by now. I should give her a call after this...Maybe senior Yu Gen and Xia Ting already have the information.." thought Yang Qing before he pulled his thoughts back to the case.

Unwilling to divulge too much about the state of the former emperor and the rest, Yang Qing diverted attention as he asked about the blood-fiend cultivator by the name of Ling Shi.

"I don't know whether it was out of desperation or due to the suddenness of the attack or something else, but she ended up using one of the escape routes of the Flying Serpent Gang. We managed to catch her in time before she disappeared. We assumed her abilities would more or less match the other blood fiend cultivator who displayed the abilities of someone who was at the middle stages of the core formation realm but we grossly underestimated her abilities.

The fourteen guards we sent after her while we mopped up the rest were annihilated despite them all being in the core formation realm. It was only thanks to that kid, Duan Kong, the captain of the Purple City Guards, putting his body on the line managed to hold her back a little, which bought us enough time for me and my wife to rush over.

I may have grown rusty over the years, but even with me and my wife working together, it still took everything to contain her, despite her only being at the eleventh stage of the core formation realm. It was only thanks to the timely assistance of the owner of the Earthvine Restaurant did we manage to break the stalemate and injure her.

I always knew there was more to that owner than met the eye.." said Wang Siyi as he stroked his beard with respect shining in his eyes, only to be elbowed by his wife for digressing.

Coughing in embarrassment, he added.

"After we gravely injured her, she used the little energy she had to execute a secret art that she used to destroy her own body and soul.

I can't help but wonder did she take her own life to avoid the fate that would befall her if she was captured, or if was it because there was something she couldn't risk being obtained, and taking her own life was the only guarantee of keeping it a secret.

Now that I think about it her behavior was suspicious.."

"Suspicious how?" asked Yang Qing.

"As a blood fiend cultivator, it is reasonable to assume for her to survive as long as she did, or for any blood fiend cultivator to survive, they need to be continuously alert, keeping their guards up at all times, suspecting everyone and everything, and for her, she managed to blend in perfectly in Purple City, so other than being alert, she has to be good at reading people..." Wang Siyi paused as he thanked the staff who had just brought the wine and dishes.

"As the host, please let me.." Yang Qing said as he took the wine jar and poured it for the couple first then him.

"Thank you.."said the couple as they waited for Yang Qing to take the first sip before they could proceed to take theirs.

After Yang Qing took his sip, Wang Siyi took a sip of his narrowing his eyes as he savored the smoothness and chilly richness of the wine as it rolled down his tongue. He would have lost himself to it had it not been for the angry glances his wife had been throwing at him.

Yang Qing couldn't help but smile as he appreciated at least the couple seemed freer with him around than the first time.

"Sorry for that... Now as I was saying, for someone capable of surviving in a place bustling with cultivators, surely she needed to be good at reading others to avoid any mishap of being discovered as a blood fiend cultivator and also blending in seamlessly.

How could someone like that not know the character of the head of the Flying Serpents Head and how he would react if he were ever caught?

If she had to escape why would she use the routes that the head would know or other members of the gang? If she did use them, she would be putting herself at the mercy of their discretion and loyalty, which they definitely don't have.

It's safer to create her contingencies and from the admission of the head, she had been with them for 150 years which is more than enough time for her to make them. Yet, she chose to use an escape route that someone from the gang would know.

It's highly suspect. Next is how little Duan Kong managed to contain her. He may be more talented than most, and his royal bloodline affords him a body that has high vitality and regeneration, but fighting Ling Shi, we saw for ourselves how terrifying her abilities were, Duan Kong should not have been able to hold her back for as long as she did, let alone even survive, but he did, which some part of me thinks... It may have been deliberate on Ling Shi's part.."

"You suspect she wanted to lure you all over?"

"I think so... I don't know maybe to divert our attention and create an opening for another blood fiend cultivator to escape, or maybe something else, but whatever it is,it was well worth it for her to sacrifice her life for it.." said Wang Siyi with a grim expression.

"Only time can tell, hopefully, my colleagues from Yellow Plains County might have some answers for us.." said Yang Qing with a sigh.

"But for now, the only matter we need to focus on is your settlement. Speaking of which they are here.." added Yang Qing with a smile.