Daily life of a cultivation judge

"The month has quickly flown by so fast.." said Yang Qing with a sigh with his gaze outside the window of his study. It was early morning with the rays filtering through the leaves of the pear tree outside his window.

His study was filled with scrolls, talismans, parchments, and books strewn about and opened. On the desk were empty bowls that looked to have contained food in them. Some had the oiliness and crumbs of baked goods, and others had the stickiness of stew. Only the teapot that was releasing steam looked to retain its contents still.

In the four corners of his study were spirit-clearing sandalwood incense sticks with only a few centimeters remaining from burning out and at the center of the room was a yellow stone that exuded a gentle glow. The stone was the tranquility earth stone and from the ethereal quality exhibited by the one on Yang Qing's desk, it looked to be one that had reached the monarch grade.

It was a great material to use when one was meditating or doing something taxing for the mind which Yang Qing had been doing for the past month. Over the past month other than healing and strengthening Ma Yuan's body, he had been researching countless arts looking for references as he aimed to create one that would help with the development of Ma Yuan/s body.

The meditation art would be stepping in place of Yang Qing in the transformation process of Ma Yuan's body by freely guiding the interconnection between Ma Yuan and his surroundings as he worked the land. The meditation art would be the binding link between the two.

Since he wasn't looking to create a top-tier meditation art, but rather a fairly decent one that would maybe be at the top tier of the orange grade, he didn't need a lot of reference material. His personal collection of meditation arts would suffice as guiding lamps, while his main cultivation art, the universal light of the myriad worlds would be the real backbone of the whole thing.

It was his aura that triggered the reaction between Ma Yuan and the surroundings in his abode, and his aura was a component of his cultivation art which was built based on encompassing multiple components into one which was Yang Qing's qi ended up being a universal qi that featured the attributes of most elements.

Though Ren Shu did say getting universal qi from the art wasn't guaranteed for all and the only reason Yang Qing was able to establish it so seamlessly was because of his yin-yang jade bones whose nature and the art's nature coincided.

Yang Qing hoped to borrow his insights into the universal light of the myriad worlds and combine them with the insights from the meditation arts he had on hand, to create a brand-new meditation art.

Even though he was aiming for an orange grade art whose level of difficulty wasn't as high as improving a red grade art to a blue grade art, creating one, no matter how low the grade still required tremendous effort and chance on Yang Qing's part, which is why even after pouring through countless techniques, and breaking down his cultivation art, he was still in the fog, trying to find the pathway to that meditation art.

Seeing one of the incense sticks finally burn through and disintegrate into ash followed by the second one, Yang Qing took it as his cue to pause his efforts and focus on something else.

Getting up, he stretched his back out of habit, picked the teapot containing mirror heart jasmine tea, and made his way out of his courtyard, where he found Ma Yuan already hard at work preparing the ground at one of the uncharted acres in Yang Qing's abode.

"The meditation art progress aside, at least the month had not been in vain.." Yang Qing said with a satisfied smile as his gaze fell on Ma Yuan.

Over the past few weeks, Ma Yuan had been put through the paces either by his grandfather and his crazy clan members or by Dai Chen and Zhang Qingge, with Yang Qing picking up whatever pieces of him that was left after, and putting him back together so he could go through it again. Ma Yuan persevered through it all and the results could be seen.

Originally, he had a burly build, but right now, his body was much more compact and leaner which inadvertently made him seem a lot younger. His skin was supple, looking youthful and unblemished, and his aura looked reserved and calm, mirroring the essence of nature.

Seeing Ma Yuan now and before, one would hardly assume he was the same person, be it in terms of physical appearance, or presence. Before, he had the appearance of someone robust with an untamed aura and edginess to him, but now he had the silence and stillness of a lake in the middle of the day with no wind, but underneath that stillness hid terrifying power and resilience.

He still had a long way to go, but Yang Qing could say with confidence by the time the year was up, Ma Yuan would be able to effortlessly beat three or four of his previous self, and the reason for that, the major part was Ma Yuan's relentless efforts to the regimen given to him, the other was those providing the help. Each was a master of their craft, from his grandfather and the other old Yang Clan fossils who were walking treasure troves of body refinement to Dai Chen and Zhang Qingge who were combat prodigies, and Yang Qing who could rebuild his body even if it was a pile of puddle. All these factors were slowly reshaping Ma Yuan.

"Ma Yuan could you come for a second.." Yang Qing softly called, as he waved Ma Yuan over.

"Yang Qing, you're up early?" Ma Yuan said as he rushed over wearing a light smile. He had long shaved his scruffy beard, and his brown hair was nicely tied in a bun while his eyes looked spirited.

"I have to, it's my last day of vacation and I have to make the most of it but before that, have you heard of the mortal path of transcendence?"

Ma Yuan looked incredulously at Yang Qing because of the question but still answered,

"I have, almost everyone has. The mortal path of transcendence is the foundational combat arts that those in the body and qi refinement realm are taught to help strengthen their bodies and hone their sense. Why do you ask?"

The mortal path of transcended though widely spread was a simple technique, as it was only used by those in the body refinement and qi refinement stages. One of the reasons it was so widely known was because it was rumored to have been created by a gifted genius who was rumored to be gifted in fists, kicks, palm, sword, spear, and saber arts, reaching the absolute peak in each of these arts and suppressing an era singlehandedly.

That genius was a commoner with no powerful sect, clan, empire, or any other powerful organization to nurture him. It wasn't by choice as he was judged to have a mediocre talent in cultivation with no sect willing to take him.

However, unwilling to give up his dream of being a cultivator, that genius trained by himself, relentlessly. With no one to guide him and the label of inept hanging over him, a crazy thought grew in him. A single stick is easy to snap, but a bunch of sticks bound together will be tough to break. If his talent was lacking, he would train in everything to try and make up for that gap. He trained his punching, kicking, palm attacks, sword moves, saber moves, and spear moves.

He couldn't afford any techniques so he adopted the most rudimentary approach to training them. Punch a thousand times until your punch can punch through the air, swing your sword and saber a thousand times until they can slice through the air, kick a thousand times until your kick can slice through the air, and thrust your palm and spear a thousand times until you can thrust through the air, and if a thousand times isn't enough, do it five thousand times, and if that isn't enough do it ten thousand times, do it until you can slice, punch and shatter through mountains and rivers.

He pursued it with a pure single-minded devotion that he won the approval of the Dao who became his mentor in place of those who rejected and shunned him. Trained by the Dao, he became Dao. Through his relentless efforts, he managed to capture the true essence of those arts, and through it, he transcended his mortality and rose to the soul formation realm in a single bound. It is unknown whether that tale was true, but the cultivation art rumored to have been created by him was accomplished when it came to establishing and training one's foundations.

The mortal's path to transcendence adopted simplicity, repetition, and resilience, and had no requirement on one's talent just discipline. Its simplicity and low requirements on talent were what made it so widely spread throughout the continent along with the promise that one could ascend to the heavens as they kept at it.

Other than its rumored creator, no one has ever been recorded to ascend to the soul formation realm using it, but it was widely accepted as being one of good for creating firm foundations, though most prominent organizations choose to use their own, and those who opt to use the mortal's path of transcendence are usually the low ranked ones or those without sufficient means.

Even though most don't there are a few top-tier organizations that use the art, such as the Thousand Hall Battle Pavilion, that enforce it as a foundational requirement for all its members. The stance is a given considering the pavilion was started in admiration and reverence for the relentless spirit of the creator of the mortal's path to transcendence.

The Order uses it too, but unlike the Thousand Hall Battle Pavilion that makes its use mandatory, at the Institute, the students are given a choice on whether to use it or not.

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