Daily life of a cultivation judge
Chapter 1197 - 1197: Change of coat (1)

It didn't take long for Yang Qing to find Haishi, the mirage dragonfly, and Bolin, the rainbow mist toad. The two spirit beasts hadn't changed much in both demeanor and appearance. Haishi still had the same eight-meter-long body, with wingspans twice Yang Qing's height and a crystallized sheen that shone with radiant light. Bolin remained palm-sized, his skin covered in spiraling rainbow patterns, and his pitch-black eyes carried a sage-like look.

Their appearances were just as they had been when Feng Xin first brought them over, except, well... Bolin still had the writing Yang Qing had tattooed on his back when they first met: Belongs to Judge Yang Qing. Keep your hands off.

At the time, Bolin hadn't reacted much to the branding. He'd still been running on adrenaline and fear from his terrifying encounter with Feng Xin, where he'd witnessed a dozen spirit beasts, many of them as strong or stronger than himself, effortlessly slain, which left him and Haishi as the only survivors of that incident.

That brush with near-certain doom, along with the looming uncertainty of whether he'd be used as an experimental subject like Feng Xin had warned, left his mind frayed. He hadn't even registered what Yang Qing had written on his back, nor had he been in the state of mind to care.

It was only a few days later, once things had settled down, that he had the freedom to care about exactly what Yang Qing had done to his skin.

If he was being honest, he didn't like it much. His rainbow coat was the one thing he held great pride in. It both scared and enamored others whenever they saw him. He didn't have the massive frame spirit beasts usually had, but he had his multicolored coat that carried just as much charisma and striking quality as a massive frame did. So he felt Yang Qing's writing diminished that.

He already had very little to work with in terms of physical impact, without his one saving grace being put in jeopardy, and especially in a new environment. In the Green Fog Swamp Sect, even without his coat, at least his reputation could still give him legs to stand on, given how long he'd been there and the reputation he'd built from destroying and consuming other spirit beasts. But here, he had to start from scratch, with a new environment and new spirit beasts to deal with, whom he quickly realized were much more intimidating than the ones in Green Fog Swamp Sect.

The one thing he thought he could rely on in such a scenario had been sullied. How was he supposed to hold his head high against the other spirit beasts when he had such writing on his back that said he belonged to some human? Wouldn't those spirit beasts mock him endlessly?

And worse still, though Bolin wasn't exactly familiar with the aesthetics of human writing, he was pretty sure the script Yang Qing had used looked far too delicate.

Couldn't it have at least looked fierce? Like claw markings or talon scratchings? Something with bite to it? He would have even preferred a literal bite mark, at least then maybe he'd have had a little something left to work with, through which to preserve his dignity.

At least with a vicious-looking writing, he could maybe concoct a story behind it, like the writing belonging to some Palace Realm spirit beast he had fought. And though he lost, that spirit beast admired his breadth of spirit during the battle, leaving those words behind so they could resume their duel once more when he broke through to the Palace Realm.

But with such delicate writing, would those spirit beasts even buy it?

His fears had been proven right, because the spirit beasts from the Beast Tamer Hall had mocked and laughed at him endlessly and mercilessly for that writing. The biggest contributor was a vicious and merciless Cloud Swallowing Kite that strung him up every night and invited other spirit beasts to come 'admire' his 'shiny coat.'

Bolin swore to poison that bird one day, with his most vicious concoction. The progress he had made today in understanding and refining his innate abilities was partially motivated by the determination to get even with that smug bird.

He knew that without sufficient strength, he would always end up strung up. And as foul as that bird was, it was also terrifyingly powerful; otherwise, it wouldn't be feared the way it was by the other spirit beasts. Bolin didn't even think his old friend, one of the false kings, the Green Flash Viper, could stand against that kite.

So he had to bide his time and swallow the disgrace, which, on some days, felt harder than others. The only saving grace for him had been the times he trained under his caretaker, Luo Meili, who had been guiding his cultivation.

To tell the truth, he was just as terrified of that human as he was of the kite, maybe even more so.

She looked gentle, but to Bolin, she was far more frightening than Feng Xin, despite having personally witnessed the latter effortlessly dispatch his compatriots in under two minutes.

The only good thing was that he'd noticed the kite was just as terrified of Luo Meili as he was, which brought him a strange measure of satisfaction, almost as if he were dishing out revenge by proxy.

But alas, his caretaker had left to prepare for her breakthrough, and he was forced to return to the Beast Tamer Hall, where the vicious bird and its 'friends' were waiting to 'admire' and comment on his coat.

The only silver lining in that whole ordeal was that he wasn't enduring the torment alone. Haishi had been suffering too. While it wasn't exactly the same, given she didn't have writing on her back branding her as someone's property, the vicious kite didn't let up on her either. It eyed Haishi greedily, with the same look Bolin himself used to have whenever his gaze fell on prey he wanted to devour, thinking how filled and nourished he would be when he did.

And if he was being perfectly honest, during his early days here, he, too, had found himself gazing at Haishi that way as his mind nostalgically drifted back to his days in the Green Fog Swamp, where he lived like a king without worry.

That stood in stark contrast to his current status at the Order, where he had been immediately demoted to the bottom, with only Haishi ranked lower than him.