Daily life of a cultivation judge

"Now that we are done with the payments let's get to the base of it, your roles and responsibility," said Shi Tian as his demeanor turned a little bit more solemn.

Yang Qing despite himself, felt his throat dry up. Yang Qing couldn't help but worry, the reason the Order paid handsomely which was totally out of character for them, was that they had every intention of getting their spirit stones worth out of him down to the last stone.

Yang Qing shuddered at the thought of how bad it would get.

"Some duties you had at the superior core court still remain in the outer palace court albeit maybe the rank has changed. 

You will still handle cases as per usual and the amount is significantly lower which will be between 50-100 a month. You will mostly be dealing with cases involving palace realm experts that are in stages 1-4, other than that, on as need basis cases involving those in the late stages of the core formation will be placed under your docket in case there is an overload in the core court.

As a superior core court judge, you've handled the promotion of unranked organizations to rank 5 and their demotions. In the outer palace court, the same role will be maintained, where you will be handling the promotion of rank 5 organizations into rank 4 and the demotion of rank 4 organizations.

However, under demotions, there is a special provision where you can also demote a rank 3 organization. This provision falls under one of your new roles as a palace court judge and only comes into effect under a forced demotion.

I take it you already know about them?" asked Shi Tian.

"Yes, I do," Yang Qing somberly answered as he nodded.

Part of the reason the Order was hated in some parts of the continent was because of it.

There existed two types of demotions; natural demotion and forced demotion. Natural demotion was a demotion that occurred without the Order's hand in it. An example of it was what happened to the Clear sword river sect during Yang Qing's evaluation.

Their only remaining foundation establishment member had less than three months to live and no successor in sight. In such a case the demotion of the sect was all but nigh. Another example would be the Yellow Lotus sect which had lost all contact with the three palace realm experts from their sect in over 200 years hence their demotion from rank 3 to rank 4. 

In both instances, the Order had no hand in it, but when it came to Forced demotion, the Order was the cause. 

What happened to the Star collapsing sword sect was an example of a forced demotion. They were originally a rank 1 sect but they drew the ire of the Order and got forcibly demoted to a rank 2 sect. The sect had seven soul formation experts and they all got killed as a result of the forced demotion and they were not the only casualty. The sect was left with a third of what they once had. The domain experts who numbered in the thirties, were reduced to just five and the five that remained was because of the Order's mercy and the intervention of the Radiant sword sect. 

If it had not gone that way, the Star collapsing sword sect would have another statistic of a fallen sect or their rank would have been much lower than it was.

A forced demotion wasn't done lightly because it could end in the decimation of the entire organization. For a forced demotion to be issued, a panel of seven judges would be created and they would judge the case whether it warranted a demotion or not. If the votes end up on the side of a forced demotion, they would be in charge of enacting the ruling.

It was this ruling that has always made Yang Qing suspect there was a court for soul formation experts within the Order, because if there was not, then who enacted the justice on the Star collapsing sword sect? This was an orthodox sect, unlike the Dark Helminth Ghost Sect which did not need much regulations since it was a dark organization.

As an Orthodox sect, its destruction was sure to cause waves. Therefore, there needed to be an ironclad reason for its destruction, and who better to give it than Soul formation judges or 'Spirit judges' as they were eluded to be called and their court was called the Spirit court. The name was derived from the Spirit Council.

Even though being a judge he had passed on harsh sentences including immediate execution, the thought of handling a forced demotion made him uneasy because he would not be dealing with a single person but an entire organization.

But since he was an outer palace court judge now, he had to face the reality that maybe at some point in time he may be dealt that hand, and maybe it may not even be once. Yang Qing could only hope when the time came, he would be ready. 

The only comfort he had in the matter was that the primary judge could choose the panel he wanted. In his case, he could choose Dai Chen and Zhang Qingge to be on the panel with him. Their presence during the enactment of the ruling would be oddly comforting, and having other five colleagues share the weight wouldn't be bad either. Yang Qing couldn't help but feel that maybe that was one of the reasons there a panel had to be involved in a forced demotion. Sharing the burden among colleagues rather than bearing the weight of it by yourself.

Yang Qing lifted his palms and stared at them with an austere look. At this moment he could feel it; the heaviness of wearing the title of a palace court judge.

"Maybe that moment will never come," Yang Qing said with a weak smile that had lingering hope attached to it.