Daily life of a cultivation judge-Chapter 1443: Blue token (2)

A cultivator’s life, for as long a lifespan as they had, the higher up the realms they moved, was ironically short, given the dangers they had to weather through in pursuit of higher realms. And this was even more so for rogue cultivators. Many rarely lived to become powerful, with most dying at their early steps, and those who were lucky enough to go further had their path halted by various things, such as injuries, as it was with Fan Jie.

But if by some luck and a whole lot of talent and chance they managed to grow into their potential and actually reach the summit, these rogue cultivators who were generally looked down upon and treated as detritus ended up producing some of the most powerful experts, capable of overturning the waves of an entire era and continent with a single wave of their palm.

As such, Yang Qing took great care to be mindful of the rogue cultivators he encountered, because who knew what they might amount to in the future.

As he filed away Xiadan’s name to dig into later and see if the Flying Shadow Hawks had anything on him, Xiadan spoke. His voice sounded young and gentle, like a warm, calming breeze.

"I am very much willing to listen to Daoist Chen Yu’s offer."

The voice seemed to have originated from the same place as Han Bai’s, which more than confirmed Yang Qing’s guess that the Xiadan mentioned now and the one mentioned by Fan Jie earlier were likely the same person.

Li Gang bowed politely to the seating from where the voices came, before he turned to Appraiser Chen Yu, bowing once more to him as he gestured warmly, "The floor is yours, Daoist Chen Yu."

"Thank you for your accommodation," Chen Yu politely said, cupping his fists toward Li Gang and in the direction from which Xiadan’s and Han Bai’s voices had come.

Staring at that seating, he said, "While I do not have the Enlightenment Pollen Aster Flower, I do have something that has a similar ability."

As he said that, a blue leaf appeared in his palm. Outwardly, it did not seem to look any different from a regular leaf, but every spiritual sense that touched that leaf felt as though it had sunk into an ocean comprised entirely of the mysteries of the Grand Dao.

The essence of the Grand Dao within that leaf was so dense that a few cultivators within the auction house started getting dizzy.

Mo Guang’s impassive face finally showed a reaction as his pupils trembled with surprise, his gaze alternating between the leaf and the smiling Chen Yu, his eyes becoming more solemn the longer he looked at Chen Yu, as though he had uncovered something from looking at the face of the blue-grade instructor.

He is not just a simple blue-grade instructor, is he? Yang Qing quietly whispered as he observed the leaf and Chen Yu contemplatively.

"That Hidden Radiance Pearl is as good as his now that he brought out that leaf," he said, smiling wryly as the blue leaf was reflected in his eyes.

If Xiadan knew his stuff (which Yang Qing felt he did), then he was likely to recognize the worth of that blue leaf. The Enlightenment Pollen Aster Flower, as precious as it was, could hardly compare to the worth behind that blue leaf.

Some part of Yang Qing even felt Appraiser Chen Yu had overpaid for that Hidden Radiance Pearl.

Pinching the leaf between his fingers, Appraiser Chen Yu smiled as he said, "I will give you this token, which has a redemption period of a week in the Blue Zone of the Ten Thousand Dao Jade Leaf Tree."

And as Yang Qing had expected, Xiadan did not even waste a second before he gave his reply.

"I agree," he gently and calmly replied.

As expected, Yang Qing thought as he dryly chuckled.

In Xiadan’s shoes, he would have agreed too, and with much less grace at that. After all, that was a Blue Zone token being offered.

The Ten Thousand Dao Jade Leaf Tree was so unique and powerful that most felt it was wrong even to classify it as a saint-grade treasure. After all, this was a natural Dao treasure that, just from sheer presence alone, could birth other saint-grade treasures. It was said that a mature dragon spiritual vein would need only a week of soaking in the aura of the Ten Thousand Dao Jade Leaf Tree to evolve into an ancestral dragon vein.

The soil beneath was considered a precious peak-tier saint-grade treasure, as it contained the essence of the Grand Dao so powerful and concentrated that it could instantly awaken and purify the bloodlines of spirit beasts, and allow those without wisdom pearls to instantly form them. And the same was true for plants. Any plant without sentience would instantly awaken and gain the ability to cultivate just from being grazed by soil from the Ten Thousand Dao Jade Leaf Tree.

If there was one treasure where your imagination of what it could do would always fall short, it was the Ten Thousand Dao Jade Leaf Tree. What it could do was so preposterous that some believed it could even resurrect the dead; if not, it most definitely contained a pathway to immortality. Yang Qing belonged to the latter.

Whether it could truly do so remained to be seen, but what had already been seen more than showed that the Ten Thousand Dao Jade Leaf Tree was not an ordinary thing, and that unordinaryness affected and influenced the areas within its sphere of influence.

That sphere of influence gave rise to the zones and the tokens associated with them. The closer one was to the tree, the more deeply and pervasively its wondrous effects were, which would taper down the further one went from the tree.

There were five zones, namely: Purple, Gold, Blue, Orange, and Red.

Purple was the zone closest to the tree, roughly a ten-thousand-meter radius around it. The Gold zone was the next zone, within a forty-thousand-meter radius. The Blue zone followed after that, within an eighty-thousand-meter radius of the tree. Then followed the Orange zone, within a one-hundred-and-twenty-thousand-meter radius. And lastly, the Red zone, which was within a two-hundred-thousand-meter radius.

Xiadan getting a token for the Blue zone did not lose out at all, because whatever effects the single pollen of the Enlightenment Pollen Aster Flower he had been asking for could have had, those effects could be experienced by anyone cultivating at the fringes of where the Orange zone met the Blue zone. 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

If that fringe zone was like that, what about if you were truly at the Blue zone?

There would be no shortage of Domain experts willing to sell their entire wealth for the opportunity to cultivate there for an entire day, as the harvest of cultivating within that zone would more than make it worthwhile.

There were even those who would consider doing so for the Orange zone. The zone might be far from the core region, but it was still within the sphere of influence of the most precious natural Dao treasure in the entire continent.

Mud would be transformed into gold, and a sardine would transform into a dragon from brushing up against the aura of the essence of that tree.

The leaf shown by Chen Yu and the sensation it evoked showed but a glimpse of what it was like in the Blue zone.

Given how special it was, even if that Hidden Radiance Pearl ended up birthing a saint-grade treasure, in Yang Qing’s eyes, Xiadan would not have lost out in the deal at all, especially given the duration allowed for the token he was given.

To have that token, he definitely is not just a blue-grade instructor, Yang Qing quietly thought. Yang Qing would not find it strange if Chen Yu revealed himself to be one of the princes of the Jade Leaf Empire, or if he was a purple-grade instructor in disguise, as it needed that level of access to be able to hand out such a token. It was definitely not something a blue-grade instructor would have, and consequently, even have the authority to hand it out.

Or maybe he is some scion of one of the bigwigs. Or some treasured seedling of theirs, Yang Qing guessed as he followed the blue leaf all the way from the podium until it disappeared by the stairs leading to the upper floors, carried by one of the staff members. At the same time, Chen Yu smiled in deep satisfaction as he fiddled with the Hidden Radiance Pearl.

"Thank you," he suddenly said to Li Gang as he was walking back to his seat.

Li Gang, though caught off guard, flinched slightly at the remark as he cupped his fists and bowed slightly toward Chen Yu. There was a tenseness in his movements that was not there before, when his movements and charm were overflowing with grace.

Though that stiffness was not completely noticeable, some did notice, like Chen Yu, who smiled bitterly, and Yang Qing, who had been following Chen Yu’s actions and movements after the blue leaf disappeared from his field of vision.

Seems like he came to the same conclusion as us, Yang Qing commented, sighing sympathetically at Li Gang, who, though he tried to act normally, someone perceptive could tell that something had changed within him in those few seconds.

It was not just him. Most within the auction house who understood the implication of the weight a Blue Zone token carried all looked at Chen Yu differently, with some even avoiding eye contact entirely.