Daily life of a cultivation judge

Chapter 859 Blood debt duel (4)

After informing the duo, Yang Qing walked over to Yu Gen pulling over a portion of the fog that he and Yu Gen used to sit on as it slowly rose a few hundred meters from the platform.

With a single command, the fog obscured the duo as Yang Qing fished out a jar of cloud mist wine and two cups, quickly pouring for both he and Yu Gen as they both inadvertently sighed at the mysteries of the fog around.

"Where did they even find such a thing? Every time I see it I am mesmerized like the first time I saw it.." Yang Qing said as his eyes glittered with endless wonder and curiosity when they fell on the fog around them.

Yu Gen who had the same reaction, answered,

"A world this big, filled with thousands upon thousands of mysterious objects and places like the Millionsfold Treasure Ocean, the Beast Churning Sea, the Celestial Ocean, or the green fog region.. It's not strange to find inexplicable things like the chaos fog of manifestation.

That being said, it is still one of the most wonderous ones I've come across. I can't believe such a fog with no sentience at all can weave countless dao as a seamster does a cloth. How many Daos do you think it knows?"

"Considering the chaos energy it is rumored to contain, probably thousands, otherwise how else would it create such flawless transformations.." Yang Qing said with an envious sigh as he had a tiny portion of the fog next to him transform into a brazier that burned with a gentle light blue flame which he used to cook some skewered cow tongues he had on hand.

The fog that surrounded them, just as Yu Gen had mentioned, was called the chaos fog of manifestation and it could be considered siblings with the mimicry chaos sky metal which was inlaid into the black medallion tower of the Order and became one of the foundational fabrics of its headquarters.

Both were rumored to have been birthed from the same source which Yang Qing guessed was why the Order had both in the first place. He just didn't know who brought them.

The mimicry chaos sky metal was what allowed movement into different floors and courtrooms of the Order, especially when it came to sensitive areas. It acted as a passageway but also as a barrier to those places.

The mimicry chaos sky metal had a unique ability that would cloak everything it touched with the power of the void and since the entire building was made of the metal, it meant in no simple terms that the entire headquarters was in the void.

But if the entire was in the void, how was it still visible in the real world? Yang Qing didn't exactly know how the mimicry chaos sky metal worked, but with the little understanding he got when he was told about it was the metal acted as a bridge and anchor to both worlds; the void world and the physical world, both sides would not be able to see or access the bridge without its say so.

The tower basically existed in limbo between two worlds which made the tower virtually untouchable by both worlds as one would have to seek the approval of the mimicry chaos skymetal first before gaining access to the tower.

Mysterious realms operated similarly to what the metal was doing, man-made ones, that is. For those types of realms, someone powerful would tear the fabric of space where it was weak, revealing the void world within then they would use several treasures. The bulk of the treasures in use were to ensure the void space was habitable and safe as void energy was cataclysmically destructive.

Were a palace realm cultivator like Yang Qing thrown into the void and exposed to its energies, despite the depth of his cultivation and firm foundations, he would not be able to survive more than two hours before the void energy disintegrated everything within him from his cultivation base, down to his body and soul. In the end, he would be consumed by the void and transformed into its energy.

But as destructive as it was, for those who could withstand its overbearing power, that world hidden within the void was a true paradise for cultivation. Void energy, though chaotic, destructive, and dense, contained a lot of benefits, one of which was the countless traces and whispers of dao a single drop contained. The reason those weak couldn't survive was the potent force it contained that would tear apart anyone and anything unable to withstand it.

Most cultivators, especially those at the late stages of the domain realm and above liked to cultivate there because of those qualities of void energy. It was one of the highest rated places for one looking to gain insight into supreme Daos like the space dao along with other obscure Daos like fate and karma that one would struggle to gain traces of in the real world one would easily find its traces and pathways spread all around in the boundless world of the void.

It wasn't only the limitless pathways of Daos that drew a cultivator's attention to the place. The void was home to rare wonderous treasures from void crystals which if one had a way of converting and refining its energy, a single crystal contained the same powering energy as a million high-grade spirit stones, or extremely rare one like the nihilistic void stone that disintegrates anything it touches to nothingness, whether it's a formation array, an artifact, an attack, provided it's powered by dao, the nihilistic void stone will grind all its power down.

From present records when it comes to formation arrays or artifacts, anything below purple grade and saint grade will have its abilities reduced to nothingness the moment it makes contact with the nihilistic void stone.

It wasn't just the nihilistic void stone, there were countless other treasures like the luminous void wisteria which when consumed gave one eyes that were able to see the threads of dao, as one would see the threads of a yarn.

It was because of the astounding world the void hid, that any organization worth their salt, despite the risks involved would all try and establish a mysterious realm. The purpose of those realms was to borrow and refine a portion of the power and properties of the void, in the hopes that it would be transformed by it just like the nihilistic void stones, the void crystals, or the void creatures that learned to thrive in its environment.

But to build a mysterious realm one needed a powerful anchoring treasure that would hold the mysterious realm in place and prevent it from being swept up into the void. Those realms needed a place that anchored them to the real world, otherwise, if it got swept up, those within would be forever stranded in the void. That treasure also doubled up as a cloaking feature. Because it anchored a part of the world to the real world, the aura coming from the real world acted as a veil that shielded the realm within the void, and what it shielded it from was the inhabitants of the void i.e. the void creatures which were the greatest threats in that place.

However, the cloaking wasn't foolproof, as provided those creatures were close enough they could easily see through it, and for those truly powerful, they didn't even need to be close to notice the anomaly. The only way to prevent misfortune from striking was to have a powerful figure preferably a soul formation expert stand guard in that mysterious realm to detect any danger that might arise be it from the void creatures or void storms that may happen once in a while which had the potential of completely destroying the mysterious realm or the anchoring treasure it was bound to.

No matter what means one used, one was never truly safe there, but the mimicry chaos sky metal was different. It eliminated that risk completely as it operated on both the laws that governed the void, and those that governed the real world manipulating them freely as it wished, and such a treasure, as far as Yang Qing knew was virtually unheard of.

The chaos fog of manifestation was just as wonderous, as it could recreate anything you wanted it to create, with one exception. It could not create life. So any living thing be it humans, animals, spirit beasts, sentient plants down to even sentient artifacts would not be recreated by it, but everything else, it could do with a mere thought such as the hundreds of thousands of grade weapons, or the brazier Yang Qing was using to barbecue his beef tongues or the mountain the duel platform they were in.

All of it was by the power of the fog, and it wasn't a mere representation, but the real thing. The fog contained chaos energy which gave it the ability to freely manipulate countless daos at will. Yang Qing didn't even think it had a limit on the number of Daos it could manipulate.

But sadly, it could not be used for cultivation like the Jade Leaf Empire and the Jade Leaf Academy used the Ten Thousand Jade Leaf Tree for their cultivation. One would not get enlightenment or any form of understanding from the chaos fog of manifestation despite the numerous Daos it manipulated.

Every time one tried to observe it to glean understanding from it, it was like facing a transparent glass, that hid everything from view, and the longer you tried to look at what lay beyond the glass, the more your vision would get hampered, till finally the translucent glass would become opaque, obscuring everything from view.

Yang Qing couldn't help but sigh in pity as he imagined what could have been had the mysteries behind the fog been accessible. With the number of talents the Order had, giving them access to a catalog of numerous freely flowing Daos, was like giving wings to tigers. The Order would have likely already been a true hegemon by now as they continuously churned out palace realm experts.

As for domain experts, he was under no illusions that they would be swimming in the same number of domain experts as they would palace realm experts.

Even with the fog's ability to manifest different Daos, the true test of the domain realm was surviving its tribulation. The fog would not be there to help them with it, but the palace realm was different. With sufficient preparation, one can survive it, and the bulk of that preparation was your understanding of the dao you were using to break through. Provided your understanding was good enough, the tribulation was nothing to fear. You could even bathe in it.

Provided the Chaos fog of manifestation was usable, it would have been perfect for deepening one's understanding by exposing them to different Daos. As a consequence, the Order would have been able to produce the palace realm a lot faster and in larger quantities than they currently did, and with more palace realm experts, more branches could be established,lessening the gaps between them, furthering enhancing the response and reach of the Order.

When it came to large organizations for example rank one and rank two, the soul formation experts and the domain expert were in charge of holding the helm, they rarely acted because of implications, but the main driving force of these forces were their palace realm experts. The more one had, the more avenues one had to expand and exert their influence, and for the Order that was something they desperately needed.

Yang Qing couldn't help but stare at the fog with a sense of grief, and resentment in his heart blaming the fog for being mercilessly and thoroughly exploited by the Order.

"Could it be the Order? Did they make you stingy?" wonderedYang Qing, using the same calming means he had learned over the years whenever he felt stifled and angry.

All his misfortunes, whether it made sense or not, blame the Order. It always brought him great relief to blame them or had the possibility of riling him up even further. It worked as a double-edged sword, but even with the risk, it was a habit he wasn't planning on giving up.

..

With Yang Qing preoccupied bemoaning and blaming the Order in his heart as he chewed on the crispy beef tongues, Chen Zholan and Chen Gutian had each chosen their weapon of choice.

It came as no surprise that they both went for swords, coming from a sword-cultivating clan, and further adding to their similarity, both their swords were single-handed long swords that were suffused with the wind element giving them the deep cyan glow that they had.

Both elders satisfied with their decisions walked to the center of the platform. Yang Qing seeing that they had made their choice, waved his hand, dispelling the rows of weapons leaving only a wide platform.

The atmosphere around the area instantly changed as it turned solemn. The elders who had their attention consumed by the chaos fog of manifestation, no longer gawked at it as they all focused their attention on the two people at the center of the platform.

Yang Qing floated to the center of the platform, his robes swaying with the gentle wind that blew around them.

"I won't waste a lot of words, so without any further ado let the blood duel begin!" he said as he used his right hand like a mallet and beat the air like a drum producing a loud gong sound in the process.

The instant he did, Chen Zholan, and Chen Gutian, without hesitation, or exchange of words, clashed swords.