Daily life of a cultivation judge

Zhang Guiren sighed lightly as his gaze seemed to wander elsewhere.

"Maybe we should start acting a little selfishly, otherwise.." on reaching here he paused his thoughts slightly as a melancholic gaze fell on Zhang Su before it inadvertently fell on the other clan members. In his sight, their faces kept changing as they overlapped with the faces of other Zhang Clan members he had seen die over the years from the moment he was a youth just like them, fresh on the battlefield, to now when he was an aged senior of the clan.

He let out another exasperated sigh as a number flashed in his mind. It was one of the few things he never liked about his growing cultivation realm. Cultivators had superior memories which only became more absurd the further up the realms they moved.

At his realm, as a quasi-palace stage cultivator, he could remember with perfect recall even the sensation of what it was like to be in his mother's womb from the moment he gained sentience. He could also remember what the weather was like the day he was born, how many people were there, who they were, what they smelled and looked like, and what their reactions were like.

Every single sense from sight, to smell, to sound, to touch and taste, he could feel it with vivid detail and clarity as though it happened just a few seconds ago even though he all this happened 840 years ago.

From the moment he broke through to the core formation realm, he could remember things that happened to him when he was younger with such vividness that to him, it was no different than being there. That sense of sharpness even extended to inane and casual moments in life. Any single thing or person that came across his sight even just once, he would never be able to forget it or them, even if his interaction with them was a passing glance, or it happened over a hundred years back, he would remember it just the same as he would, something very important to him.

Looking at Zhang Su and the rest, all the deaths he had seen of his fellow clansmen came flooding back, every single face, and their last moments, and what that tally had added up to the current date.

Zhang Su and the other seven clan members were not isolated in their thinking and in what they felt. Their sentiment was something that was felt by most within the clan be they old or young. Provided they have stayed at the battlefront long enough, they would have the same misgivings.

The rot of the Empire had spread all the way to the border and their clan, despite not being involved in the decay, had been affected by it, and the price for that was the death of hundreds of Zhang clan members.

The higher-ups of the clan have been debating for almost a thousand years if they should just pack it up and leave. Zhang Su was right, be it him, or elders of the clan of the same stature as him, they had long seized fighting for the Empire. They were all fighting to ensure they had as few casualties as possible among their clan members, to the point that their clan leader, the only palace realm cultivator their clan had was constantly stationed at the border to the point that he couldn't afford to leave and come here for the case.

If he left, who knows the damage they would suffer as a consequence of it? Being the largest contributors to the war against the Five Clovers Kingdom left them praised within the territories of the Red Maple Empire, however, outside of it, a completely different tune was sung. The Five Clovers Kingdom absolutely hated their guts.

No one has killed as many cultivators from their kingdom as the Zhang Clan has to the point that Zhang Guiren sometimes wondered whether the kingdom fought so hard, was it to reclaim the territory they lost to them all those years back or was it to erase every Zhang clan member and pay back the blood debt?

It was likely both. Countless assassination attempts had been made on their key clan members both at the border and at the center of the empire. Another reason most of the Zhang clan members had long lost any sentimental attachment to the Red Maple Empire. Some of the assassination attempts conducted within the confines of the Empire were done with the assistance of some of the nobles, and the despicable part was that it wasn't even the newly ambitious noble families who conspired with those assassins, but the founding families.

Both within the Empire and at the border, nowhere was truly safe for them but at least at the border, they had each other. Feared and plotted against by their own nation, and hated by their enemy.

If he was asked who he feared the most out of the two, he wouldn't have an answer to it.

At this point, what kept them at the border was to honor the spirit of their ancestor Zhang Ren, and try to live up to the reputation he built. But even then with the way things were shaping up, honoring their ancestor would cease to be a motivating factor for them.

Speaking for himself, he was among those who had long grown tired of upholding that honor and if he was being perfectly honest some part of him resented his ancestor for it, especially when he learned part of the reason their ancestor fought so fiercely. Their ancestor fought so passionately because he was lovestruck and his target of affection was none other than the first empress, Duan Qui.

Sadly, it was an unrequited love, as the first empress had eyes for someone else, but their ancestor, unwilling to give up, showed his undying affection by using the one thing he was good at, fighting, and when that wasn't enough, he dragged his family to it.

Zhang Guiren, unlike his ancestor, cared more for his clan than the Duan royal family.

"Maybe it is time for us to leave this arena. We have already paid enough. The only problem is, will the Empire let us? Will the Five Clover Kingdom?" Zhang Guiren thought as his eyes flashed with worry and frustration at how stuck they were.

As Zhang Guiren was undergoing his internal turmoil, Yang Qing had overcome his as he was deciding what sentence was suitable for the eight Zhang clan members.

The circumstances surrounding them were not black and white. They had not used the blood fiend art a lot despite being on a battlefield. The reason for doing it was also another factor, with it being to protect each other's lives and there was also the fact that they used the art on foes who they were fighting to the death with and not some unrelated innocent victim.

But ultimately, blood fiend cultivation was taboo. No matter the reason, it could not be tolerated, if it was, the implications would be devastating. The chaos and destruction that blood fiend cultivators could cause if left unimpeded was something even the indifferent holy lands would not stand idly by and let happen, and as the watchdogs of the continent, it was especially so for the Order.

Once Zhang Su had rejoined his group, Yang Qing brought his palms together, with a solemn aura radiating from his body.

"The art you used, where did you get it from?" asked Yang Qing.

"We pilfered it from the corpse of one of the cultivators from Five Clovers Kingdom we had defeated. His name was Liu Gu from the Liu family of the kingdom, which is one of their major families, and Liu Gu was the grandson of one of their supreme elders.

I don't know where he found it, but what I do know was it was thanks to it that he had killed so many of my clansmen, and even after we cornered him, despite him being at the same level as me, it still took the eight of us working together to defeat him.." answered Zhang Su.

"You didn't come with that art, did you?" asked Yang Qing, though he already knew the answer to the question.

Smiling wryly, Zhang Su said, "After we had grasped the fundamentals, to avoid being tempted to cultivate it even deeper, we burned it and forcibly erased the memories of the latter parts.."

"After this, there will be someone assigned to you. You can share with him what you know about the art and that Liu Gu.."

Zhang Su cupped his fist as he nodded in acknowledgment.

"Thank you for your cooperation in advance. Now for the crime of practicing blood fiend arts, no matter the reason, all eight of you are guilty of it. While I do sympathize with the situation you were put in, a punishment must be given for what you have done. Now I have two options for you..." Yang Qing said as he leaned forward.

"You have two choices of sentence to choose from. One of the options is, I sentence you to a lifetime imprisonment in leaned forward.

"You have two choices of sentence to choose from. One of the Requiem where you will be locked until your last breath. You will never see the light of day, but you will live out the rest of yours afforded to you by your cultivation realms.

You can continue your cultivation, though it will be severely restricted, but when it comes to meditation there will be none.

To reiterate, the sentence is for life, so even if you somehow break through to a higher realm and your lifespan increases, the length of your imprisonment isn't firmly fixed on your present lifespan, but it is attached to your life in its entirety, whatever it may be now or in the future. You will be locked up in Requiem prison for all your days.

The other option is to face a treasure called the heavenly inquisition sword and undergo its judgment for 100 years. It will judge the weight of your crimes against your hearts..."

On reaching here, Yang Qing paused briefly as his gaze turned serious.

"Those 100 years will not be easy and there is a high chance you may lose your lives in the process, but if your hearts are clear and your willpower strong, you may survive it.

If you do, you may have a chance at some freedom. While you can never go back to the Zhang Clan, or go back to your lives as it was, you have a chance at a different life. If you survive the judgment of the sword, you have the opportunity to work for the Order on the various rehabilitation and restoration projects we have all around the continent.

So which option do you want?"

The eight clan members looked at each other in surprise before they smiled a second later as one of them said,

"Leader, would you please.."

"You're sure?"

"We are from the Zhang clan!" they answered in unison.

Their response left Zhang Su and Zhang Guiren smiling.

"We choose the second option.." Zhang Su answered without hesitation.