Daily life of a cultivation judge

Yang Qing walked into the house and found Yang Gen with a pallid-looking face as he stared fearfully at his grandfather like he was some sort of monster. It was only when he saw Yang Qing walk in did he seem to have some sort of life to him.

"Yang Qing did you hear?" Yang Gen shakily asked. 

Based on his fearful appearance, Yang Qing could already guess his grandfather had already filled in his brother about the body rebirth potion which didn't seem like it went over too well.

"Isn't Gen a little too fearful? Mmmh maybe Grandpa gave him a lazy explanation, conveniently leaving out the key details," Yang Qing surmised upon seeing his brother's increasingly pale face.

"I heard," Yang Qing answered as he nodded in agreement.

"But I don't think it's that bad Gen, there may be some merits to it," Yang Qing added.

Yang Gen's jaws were wide open along with his eyes. He couldn't believe what he heard.

"Qing are you okay?" Gen worriedly asked as he hurriedly stood up only to be sat back down by his mother.

"Grandpa thank you for before, and the elders too, thank you for your guidance, it has helped me a lot," Yang Qing said as he offered a deep bow to the elderly company which came as a shock to his mom, brother, and sister-in-law.

Almost an hour ago he had been grumbling with his brother about avoiding their grandfather like he was a plague but here he was showing sincere gratitude. They all had mildly shocked looks on their faces, especially Yang Gen who increasingly felt that their grandfather may have done something to Yang Qing or that the Yang Qing before him was an impostor.

"I take it you had an interesting experience?" Grandpa Yang Fen asked with shiny stars of curiosity showing up in his eyes along with the other elders as they all looked eagerly toward Yang Qing.

"Mmh," Yang Qing nodded as he filled them in on his experience including the jade tree and everything he saw around it.

"Grandpa, Do you think that tree could be a reflection of my physique?" Yang Qing asked. 

He may have a higher cultivation base than his grandfather but when it came to the body refining realm he knew he couldn't hold a candlelight to him or the other elders. His grandfather may notice something in the things he mentioned that he may overlook.

"Mmh, it's hard to say Qing'er since this is essentially uncharted territory and we also know very little about the peerless jade physique to begin with. But based on your description I think it may very well like be your physique or even if it isn't completely atleast part of it, is.

Maybe it's using your cultivation art as a way to communicate and represent itself to you, but all this is conjecture but it's a great start,"  Grandpa Yang Fen said in excitement with the other elders joining in.

"Ha'er forgive my poor manners I will have to cut the dinner short and rush back to the Medicine Valley to check on a few things that may be of some help to Qing'er," Grandpa Fen said as he cupped his fists in apology.

"No it's okay father, I'm glad you were able to make it and I'm thankful for all you have done and continue to do for my children," Yang Qing's mom, Mai Ha said as she gave a graceful bow.

"Qing'er I'll have someone send over all of the research and findings we have on the subject along with our thoughts and guesses, maybe it will help you in figuring out a way to dig further into the jade tree.

Also if you don't mind could I share what you have just told me, with some of our colleagues at the valley?" Grandpa Fen hesitantly asked. He knew it was a form of taboo to reveal certain things about your cultivation even within a family, so he was a bit worried about making such a request.

"It's okay Grandpa, I don't mind," Yang Qing offhandedly replied. He wasn't worried about such a thing. If he was to make any headway into that jade tree, he would need as many helping hands as he could get and if he got more merit points and other awards from the Order because of it, all the better.

Immediately after Yang Qing's nonchalant response, Yang Fen and the rest of the elders immediately bolted from the area like their lives depended on it.

"How can they run so fast?" Yang Qing wondered in shock as he could feel their increasing speed within his palace sense.

The rest of the dinner proceeded as normal though Yang Gen still had this lost look to him throughout. It was only after Yang Qing carefully filled him on the details did a look of relief finally appear on his face, especially when he heard the body rebirth potion still can't work on core formation experts yet or that the current side effects haven't all been identified yet. 

He felt like he had gotten a new lease in life but he still decided that it was safer for him to try and reach the palace realm sooner so he could feel safer. Yang Qing offered to help him as much as he could including letting him stay in the nest of the celestial nesting weaver which had a chance of sensitizing him to a type of Dao which was one of the key features of the nest. He happily took Yang Qing up on the offer though it would have to wait until Yi Jie was done and Yang Gen was just at the fifth stage of the core formation realm. For higher odds of dao enlightenment, he would have to atleast be in the seventh stage before he could harvest any benefits from the nest.

Afterward, they both decided that Yang Gen would be the one to inform their father of the news since they had no doubt that the moment the body rebirth potion started working on those in the core formation realm, their father would undoubtedly be the first tester of the potion. Better to give the old man a heads-up so he could get his affairs in order.

Yang Qing later exchanged a few words with the Zou siblings especially about the upcoming exams in a few days' time before he finally took his leave to his abode to rest up and prepare himself for the following day's events.

"Finally, I'm just a day away from being an outer palace court judge," Yang Qing thought as he smiled to himself atop Ellie's back.