Daily life of a cultivation judge
Chapter 1204 - 1204: prideful royalty, an indifferent appraiser, or a shameless bootlicker

Yang Qing returned the gesture, while Hou Dehui rubbed his beard in amusement as he looked at the newcomer. Unlike Bolin and Haishi, the young man still maintained his composure, even under that gaze. Still, Yang Qing could tell he was slightly flustered underneath.

No matter your background, if a domain expert you didn't know was staring at you while you were not yet in that realm, there was no way you would remain completely calm beneath that gaze, especially not from someone with eyes like Hou Dehui's.

Even with his aura completely restrained and the casual air about him, those distinctive eyes were bound to provoke a strong reaction from others, and the Silver Crane disciple before them was no exception. However, he did do an excellent job of concealing his emotions, though, as one would expect from a disciple of an ancient rank two sect.

"Shen Mu… mmm… You must be Luo Xuan's chief disciple, right?" asked Hou Dehui, his eyes gleaming with interest as they settled on Shen Mu.

"Yes, this humble one is one of Master's disciples," Shen Mu replied, offering a cup of his fists. "She was summoned by the sect master, which is why she could not be here to welcome you personally. She offers her apologies for the discourtesy and has asked me to guide you back to her peak in her place.

"If you do not find it beneath you, please allow me to guide you," he continued.

"I can see why, despite her picky nature, she chose you as her chief disciple," Hou Dehui said with interest as he stroked his beard. "Not yet a hundred, and already at the peak of the Palace Realm. Judging by the denseness of your aura, it won't be too long before you start knocking on the doors of the Domain Realm," he continued.

"Truly impressive," he added once more.

"It's nothing of note," Shen Mu humbly said, casting a subtle glance Yang Qing's way before bringing his attention back to Hou Dehui, who now held something in his hand.

It was an ornate, amber-red pentagon-shaped box, about the size of his palm.

To the untrained eye, it looked unassuming, but the instant it was brought out, Shen Mu's calm countenance immediately collapsed and was replaced by surprise. He wasn't the only one. Yang Qing wore the same look, his gaze bewildered and growing increasingly fervent as it fell on the box, or more precisely, the sensation it evoked in him.

He could hear the whisper of the world coming from that box, or rather, from the wood. It sounded like faint chanting, carrying the teachings of countless principles and laws of the Grand Dao. His soul stirred as his own dao reacted to those whispers.

"Red amber scholar jade wood," he murmured absentmindedly, dumbfounded as he stared blankly at the box.

How could he not be, given what that wood was? Red amber scholar jade wood, just like its name, was wood taken from the red amber scholar jade tree. The tree was renowned for its enlightening abilities. It was a natural dao treasure tree that reacted to a cultivator's chosen dao. It would help the cultivator comb through countless alterations and pathways of their dao by producing chants and whispers tied to said dao.

The reason it was given the name Scholar was that those chants and whispers sounded like scholars engaged in a debate about something. The something in this case was the principles and laws of the Grand Dao.

Cultivating beside the jade tree would help one deepen their understanding of their own dao by interacting with the various insights and alterations it creates.

Given those effects, it wasn't surprising that Shen Mu and Yang Qing had the looks they did. To Palace Realm cultivators like them, who needed to enrich their understanding of their daos to the point where they could grasp the laws within and use them to break through to the Domain Realm, a treasure like the red amber scholar jade tree was heaven-sent.

It would not only shorten the time by helping them consolidate the understanding they already had, but it would also expand their horizons to angles they had never considered regarding their dao, further enriching their foundations.

Other than assisting cultivators in deepening their understanding of the Grand Dao, its wood also served as an excellent material for creating storage artifacts that preserved the efficacy of precious treasures, especially those that held the powers of the Grand Dao within them. That was what Yang Qing assumed the box in Hou Dehui's hands was used for.

There was a high likelihood it contained something rather than being empty, but even if it were empty, it was still just as precious, especially for someone like Shen Mu, who was making preparations for his ascension to the domain realm.

However, despite its wondrous abilities, the red amber scholar jade wood tree was not a treasure that could just be used by anyone. In the cultivation world, it usually went by the epithet, "The Elitist Tree, only the worthy can hear my voice."

The reason it had that epithet was that the minimum threshold for hearing its chants was a palace realm cultivation base. Anything below that, and the tree's charms would be lost on you. You would not hear the chants or whispers, and it also had a way of influencing the minds and habits of those below the Palace Realm, causing them to gaze upon it with disregard, even without realizing it. This was exactly what was happening with Bolin and Haishi.

When Hou Dehui produced the box, and both Shen Mu and Yang Qing showed visible reactions, Bolin and Haishi grew curious about it. However, the moment they laid eyes on the box, they immediately looked away with a disinterest so intense that they could not even spare another second to glance at it.

To them, it likely felt like a natural reaction, not knowing it was the effect of the wood.

Besides that, when it came to its nature, it was just as picky even with those in the Palace Realm. If your talent was weak, especially in terms of comprehension, the chants would sound distant, and you would not be able to hear them for long. In certain extreme cases, those who tried to force themselves to listen to the chants could end up with a corrupted foundation.

The tree would corrupt the listener's foundation by feeding them flawed paths to their dao through the chants and whispers. If your comprehension was low, or you were reckless, or both, you would not be able to catch it until it was too late.

That trait was something the tree used against all who interacted with it, as a way to sieve out the worthy from the unworthy. To the worthy, it was a heavenly treasure. To the unworthy, it was a poisoned chalice that not only ruined their path forward but could also kill them. It was known to overwhelm the soul with its chants and whispers, resulting in either injury or outright explosion.

Fortunately, such effects were only triggered in those who overestimated themselves, and its victims only included those in the Palace Realm. As for those above that level, anyone who reached the Domain Realm was already considered worthy by the tree. It actually fawned over them, much like how that box, despite being an inanimate artifact, pulsed with a warmth akin to that of a living creature. It looked as though it was rubbing its smooth body against Hou Dehui's palm with each gentle pulse of amber light.

It wore the crown of both a prideful royalty, an indifferent appraiser, or a shameless bootlicker, depending on who it was interacting with.