Daily life of a cultivation judge

"So who would be getting evaluated between the two of you?" Yang Qing asked once the pleasantries were out of the way. His eyes shined with interest as he eyed the two elderly twins.

Both Feng Jiao and Feng Lei seemed a bit hesitant at first, a few seconds passed by before they firmed themselves and answered back.

"Judge Yang Qing, we hope you can evaluate both of us, but if it's not allowed then only I will be getting the evaluation," Feng Jiao the silver-eyed brother, who was also the sect master, replied back.

Although he tried to portray a look of calmness, inwardly he was extremely tense which revealed itself through his tightly clenched hand and the small beads of sweat that had formed on his forehead.

"Well, it's not against the rules to have you both evaluated," Yang Qing calmly answered back, which came as a relief to the two brothers.

The reason why Yang Qing found the two brothers interesting in the first place was that they both had similar cultivation bases. They were both at the peak of the first stage of the foundation establishment realm.

The fluctuations they released had an uncanny similarity to each other, that one would confuse them to be a clone art of the other, with the only difference being the color of their eyes.

"I wonder what cultivation art they are practicing to both experience a breakthrough at the same time or does it have something to do with their bloodline," Yang Qing inwardly wondered.

As for Feng Yu, his cultivation was only at the bronze stage of the body refining realm. Outwardly Yang Qing couldn't spot anything about him that stood out.

…

With Yang Qing agreeing to their double evaluation, Feng Jiao the sect master of the Broken peak sect was the first to step out.

He did just as Yang Qing had advised them earlier and poured his qi into the foundation white haze crystal.

The moment his qi made contact with the crystal, the milky white color of the crystal started swirling. The triggered swirling was already proof he was a foundation establishment cultivator. All that was left was to know the grade of their pillar.

Just like it did at the Murong family, the color of the foundation white haze crystal started changing with every swirl. It transformed from white, then to different shades of red, then it moved on to orange. The swirling got slower once it had transformed into an orange color.

The shades got darker just like it did with the red color, it moved from light orange as the shade got richer. By the time it stopped, it resembled the orange of the sun at dusk. However, it wasn't purely orange as it had a few minuscule spots of blue in it.

Yang Qing couldn't help but raise his eyebrows at this. The prince who was seated next to him also had the same reaction as he leaned forward to closely examine the crystal to confirm what he saw was real. If it wasn't for fear of angering Yang Qing he would have grabbed the crystal for a closer observation. A shocked complicated look appeared in his eyes as his gaze alternated between the sect master of the Broken peak sect and the crystal.

Bu Zhe who had been aptly manning the door had a small frown appearing on his face when he saw the result.

Although the foundation white haze crystal was a top-tier sky-rank artifact, their kingdom had a few of them on hand which they used to scout talents within the kingdom. It was why he knew what having such a color represented.

Feng Jiao had a high-tier orange-grade pillar that was showing signs of becoming a quasi-blue-grade pillar. Within their kingdom, pillars of such a tier were worthy of note from the royal family. The kingdom would spare no expense to recruit someone of such a caliber.

He too had a top tier orange grade pillar when he was in the foundation realm, though his grade fell a little bit short when compared to Feng Jiao's since his pillars did not have blue spots in them.

Given enough cultivation resources and time, Feng Jiao would at the very least reach the same height as him and the odds of exceeding him were not low either.

"I wonder if they have a backer," Captain Bu Zhe inwardly wondered.

..

Yang Qing noticed the reaction of the prince and captain Bu Zhe. Their reactions were why he had to be careful in choosing of the location for the evaluation.

The Summerfield kingdom had a decent reputation for playing well with others and wasn't marred with the reputation of being despotic towards other organizations.

The risks of these organizations being targeted for their talent would be lower in the Summerfield kingdom than in any other place within the territory of the Spiritual temperance sect. And if anything did happen to them, the list of suspects would be few.

Based on the personality of the king, it was less than likely he would do anything untoward in spite of the results as it would mean getting on the negative side of the Order. Someone like him who valued connections above all, would less likely indulge in a move that would jeopardize them.

The kingdom gaining firsthand knowledge about these talents could be considered as Yang Qing returning them a favor for agreeing to help him with the planning for the evaluations.

….

"Whatever you see next has to remain here, not one word should leave this place."

Yang Qing's voice echoed in both the prince's and Captain Bu Zhe's minds. They both looked up in shock when they heard his voice appear in their minds.

The visible alarm in their eyes was a clear indicator that they knew what it meant for someone to directly transmit his/her thoughts into someone else's mind with ease. This was a means restricted to those who were in the palace realm and above.

Those below the palace realm had means of achieving something close, and this was through the use of arts collectively known as soundless or voiceless transmission arts. It was a way of secretly sending messages to each other in a crowded area and operated in the same vein as communication talismans.

However no matter how close it was to what Yang Qing was doing, fundamentally it was different. Yang Qing directly transmitted his thoughts into their mental seas whereas soundless transmission was essentially a private conversation that involved mouth and ears.

The way they looked at Yang Qing changed as they both nodded solemnly. Yang Qing being a palace realm expert came as a surprise to them since those from the Order who did rank 5 evaluations and promotions were all in the core formation realm. Not once had they heard a palace realm expert conducting them.

"Does father know," prince Jia Wenyan inwardly wondered as he felt even more tense when sitting next to Yang Qing.