Daily life of a cultivation judge

Shen Mu pressed his lips together which spoke of the myriad of emotions brewing within him. There was relief and joy from finally realizing his mother was alive. Then there was the surprise when he realized his mother was a domain expert, not only that but a gold-grade craftsman too, and from the Divine Armament City no less. Even though she wasn't a member of the Divine Armament Sect, her identity as one of the craftsmen in the City it controlled and being a gold-grade craftsman to boot, already showed how powerful her identity was.

That realization unearthed other emotions in him which boiled down to frustration and anger. The explanation she had given on why she couldn't help his father made sense and even some part of him was relieved she did so, at least because of it, he still had one parent alive rather than risk losing them both.

His time as the head of the Black Scorpion Gang had left him exposed to quite a lot of information, especially with the contacts he made in the process. When his cultivation realm completely stalled, he spent a lot of resources digging up information related to all things cultivation, especially breakthroughs to the next realm.

Amongst the pile, even though he didn't have much hope he would ever reach it, he had read a few accounts related to the domain realm, and how terrifying its tribulation was.

There were confirmed records of certain peak palace realm experts that had the most stable foundation one could ever have, met and exceeded all the qualifications to reach the domain realm, despite all these, those experts chose not to go through with it, choosing to exhaust their lifespan and live out the rest of their days as palace realm experts.

That fact showed how terrifying the tribulation of the domain realm was, so to Shen Mu, his mother's choice was the most sensible but the suddenness of it all still hurt. Every time he broke through, he would think to himself,

"If I had this level of strength, maybe I could have saved father.."

And now finding out his mother had a strength that was a million times more than what he ever had, some part of him felt indignant, like she was selfish, though it wasn't purely the loss of his father that made him feel that way. The resources she left him, while precious, other than the amulet whose glimmer was hidden, about the only thing else that was of value was the top-tier orange-grade cultivation art.

Discounting his mother's present achievements, back then she was a peak stage palace ream expert and a blue-grade craftsman whose abilities were already approaching the levels of a gold-grade craftsman, and a resident of Divine Armament City, with her titles and achievements, a top tier orange grade cultivation art was nothing but scraps to someone of her stature. As for the other things she gave him, all the resources she left him, none was above the middle tier of the earth grade.

Wasn't it too underhanded of her to hand her only child resources that he could have gotten in a prominent rank five sect.

Her not helping his father on account that she had suppressed her cultivation realm to the mortal realm, that he could understand, but what excuse did she have for being stingy with the resources, especially when she wasn't sure she would survive the tribulation?

The part that left Shen Mu unreconciled wasn't her apparent stinginess but rather the possibility that his life would have gone to a different line if she had been even a tiny bit generous.

If she handed him blue-grade cultivation and maybe a few sky-grade resources then he would have not needed to seek out a sect. He would have been self-sufficient.

And if he didn't need to seek out a sect then maybe his life would not have turned out as it did.

Maybe he would not have become the cold-hearted monster he had become. A monster who kidnapped, stole, blackmailed, terrorized, massacred innocents, or associated with those who made even him seem like a saint when compared to them.

He wouldn't have suffered as he did if she had helped him a little bit more, but as he looked at her, whatever anger he felt seemed to dissipate.

She still looked calm, and a presence worthy of a domain expert who could overturn the skies and the oceans with a turn of the hand, but beneath that exterior, despite never having seen her for over a thousand years, Shen Mu, as her child, he could tell she felt guilty. Her countenance was unchanged, but he could tell, having seen it on his mother all too often from his mother when he was small whenever she would be preoccupied for days on end crafting something to the point of forgetting her surroundings, which included Shen Mu and his father.

When she was on those benders, no matter how much he tried to grab her attention, she would not as much as spare a look his way. It was like he never existed. He used to cry as he hated that feeling, that feeling that she cared more about what she was crafting than him and if he was being honest, that feeling had been one of the reasons he didn't choose to go with her back then when he offered. At least when his father was alive, he would comfort him whenever she was in one of those phases, but without him, if it happened again... He didn't want to go through that pain again, and alone at that, thus seemed easier for him to remain in the village.

Whenever his mother came out of the stupor and saw the crying Shen Mu, she would always have the same look she had at the moment. Her face and demeanor wouldn't change much but her eyes would tremble faintly, and her two index fingers would move almost as if she was chiseling at something using them. Having trained as a hunter thanks to his father, he prided himself in his observation skills, and being around her, he noticed that habit of hers, he wasn't sure she knew it herself but every time she felt guilty her pupils would tremble slightly followed by the movements of her index fingers, which usually lasts for two seconds before she turns back to normal.

Despite himself, he couldn't help but smile as a warm feeling coursed through his body while his mother looked at him with a look of confusion which only made Shen Mu feel better.

"It's not fair to blame her. The choices were mine to make and I made them. I am glad to see you haven't changed even after all these years. As adept as you were with your tools, father was right, you were always clumsy when it came to these things.. "

Shen Mu flashed a childish smile at his mother as he said,

"I am glad you're okay..." he paused as he bowed.

"I am sorry our reunion has to be under these circumstances. I haven't been good for a long time and have shamed you and father with how I have lived, but, I am glad I got to see you on the day I decided to give it a go again. I am really glad you are here, mother.." he added, his voice shaking, his eyes reddened with tears.

Tan Lafen looked at Shen Mu, confusion evident on her face. She could tell Shen Mu had been angry with her a moment ago, and as bad as she was with people, she could understand why he was angry with her.

When she left, she could have left Shen Mu with better resources but she purposefully didn't and the reason for that was to protect his life. Without sufficient strength, giving Shen Mu more quality resources than she did was subjecting him to disaster.

One of the greatest dangers for cultivators was possessing a treasure that they couldn't protect. That treasure might as well be a noose around their necks. Fathers could betray sons, and vice versa for a tempting treasure, siblings could quickly turn on each other, and long-time friends who had survived life and death together would quickly turn on each other for a treasure,and a saint would quickly turn into a devil for a treasure.

Tan Lafen had seen such things happening around her, and she wasn't about to subject her only child to such a fate, thus she gave him enough treasures to support his cultivation base to the foundation establishment realm. The resources were not precious enough to incite greed, and when it came to the villagers, she was sure none of them would realize the value of the things she left behind for Shen Mu and even if they did, she had left enough means to guarantee Shen Mu's life against them, after all, the strongest person at the village had only been at the qi refinement realm.

As for the top-tier orange-grade cultivation art, it was one of the best cultivation arts she had come across when it came to laying down foundations in the body refinement to the qi refinement realm. Its proficiencies matched even that of blue-

grade cultivation arts. But no matter how good it was, its only use was in the body refinement realm to the qi refinement realm, past that, it was useless, so Shen Mu's life would not be in danger for possessing it.

She had it all planned. Shen Mu would use the orange-grade cultivation art supplemented by the resources she left him to build him sturdy enough foundations that would grant him entry to any reputable sect, and in case he met with any danger, the amulet would help resolve it provided it was deemed as a fatal threat to his life, other than that the amulet had another person. It was a key to her legacy.

She had placed a dormant imprint in there that would be activated under two circumstances. One of those circumstances was Shen Mu touching on the doors of the palace realm would trigger it, which was why it activated now. With a mature saber intent, Shen Mu was already halfway there.

At that level, Tan Lafen judged he would be able to handle the weight of her treasures. The imprint would activate, and guide him to her abode in Divine Armament City along with other locations around the continent that had her resources which also included the favors she was owed which might be of benefit to Shen Mu.

The other trigger was her death. Had she failed her tribulation, the imprint would have activated,a few seconds before her death, and imprint everything into Shen Mu's mind.

But alas things ended up different than she planned. While she was alive and Shen Mu had gained saber intent, ultimately whatever plans she had would have to be scrapped seeing him in the hands of the Order, and over the years, though the imprint was dormant, she felt what Shen Mu had been up to, the life he led, and using the amulet,she sealed his cultivation realm, and if he continued, she was ready to use the amulet to end his life.

Luckily it didn't reach that point, but even if she wasn't forced to take his life, current circumstances were not any less difficult when compared to what she had resolved to do. With what Shen Mu did, the repercussions were sure to be steep.

"I couldn't help him or Gu'er back then, maybe I can help him now.."