Daily life of a cultivation judge
Chapter 1209 - 1209: ancient spirit (1)

Not a second too soon after being called, Shen Mu was already there. Elder Luo Xuanji handed him a token along with a few instructions before sending both him and Yang Qing on their merry way.

Yang Qing had considered leaving Haishi and Bolin behind, but after noticing the likely relationship between the two domain experts, he decided otherwise and brought them along.

As Yang Qing and Shen Mu made their way to Silver Breath Peak, they engaged in small talk. Their conversation flowed smoothly, though at first it was stiff and formal; within a few minutes, they were talking like bosom friends. Yang Qing couldn't help but wonder if them being kindred spirits had something to do with it. After all, he understood all too well the pressures of being around a domineering boss.

Maybe that shared sense of understanding and empathy was what helped the two grow so quickly casual and familiar with each other. It was thanks to that interaction that Yang Qing came to learn a few more things about the sect, especially when it came to Silver Breath Peak.

Of the five main peaks, whether in importance or talent, Silver Breath Peak was the only one considered to stand on equal footing with Silver Head Peak. Silver Talon Peak wasn't far behind, but even so, there was still a noticeable gap between it and Silver Head Peak.

As for the Right and Left Silver Wing Peaks, they weren't even close. Though they languished at the bottom of the Five Main Peaks, they were still plenty powerful when compared to the rest of the peaks outside the core five.

Given the scale of the sect, Yang Qing wasn't surprised that it had other structures beyond the Five Main Peaks, which he took to calling the tertiary peaks. Shen Mu didn't delve into how many there were, but judging by the number of peaks Yang Qing had seen, he guessed there were likely no fewer than twenty.

Those peaks, despite lacking the same renown as the Five Main Peaks, were still run by the sect's true disciples, and not by external cultivators. Those who stood out in their performance earned a chance to be considered for one of the Five Main Peaks. Of course, it was only a consideration, given they still had to pass the tests set by the core peaks themselves.

Not many made it through, which only served to highlight how gifted the members of those main peaks were. That was why Yang Qing couldn't help but feel surprised by the veneration in Shen Mu's tone whenever he spoke of Silver Breath Peak.

From his demeanor and the way he talked, one might have thought he wasn't a chief disciple of one of the Five Main Peaks, but rather an ordinary member of the tertiary peaks speaking of Silver Breath Peak with awe.

Given the explanation he gave about the peak, Yang Qing could understand why.

To be a chief disciple—whether of Silver Talon Peak or the Left and Right Silver Wings Peaks—one needed talent close to, or equal to, that of the legacy-seeded disciples being groomed in Silver Head Peak.

Given the results Shen Mu had shown, that assessment added up. Hou Dehui hadn't said exactly how old Shen Mu was, only hinting that he was under a hundred years old. But even assuming he was close to the one-hundred-year mark, a ninety-something-year-old peak palace stage expert was still a special kind of genius in the eyes of any organization, even the Order or the two Holy Lands.

So Shen Mu having the talent of a legacy-seeded disciple, added up. That revelation wasn't surprising to Yang Qing.

What did surprise him though was what Shen Mu said next, which was that said standard did not apply to Silver Breath Peak. On that peak, every member, from the chief disciple down to the regular disciples, had to possess talent that matched that of a seeded legacy disciple.

That meant every member of that peak already had the qualifications to become a seeded legacy disciple.

If that's the case, then the information Xia Fang shared with me is skewed… Yang Qing frowned slightly at the thought.

Xia Fang had said their ancestor injured his core while trying to elevate its grade, all in the hope of improving his chances of becoming a seeded legacy disciple of the sect.

But from what Shen Mu had revealed—and considering that her ancestor was once a member of Silver Breath Peak—being part of that peak already made him a seeded legacy disciple by default. There was no need for him to elevate his core and risk the dangers that such a process entailed.

Why did he do it, then? wondered Yang Qing.

He would have asked Shen Mu, but the latter had never even heard of the Xia Clan's founder outside of today, which was to be expected, given how much time had passed since the founder had been a member of the sect.

Yang Qing filed the questions away, hoping to find the answers at Silver Breath Peak.

Just like their first journey to Silver Talon Peak, the trip to Silver Breath Peak followed a similar pattern. They used two teleportation portals before completing the final leg of the journey by flying for almost a quarter of an hour.

The trip once again reminded Yang Qing of how massive the sect truly was.

Upon arriving at Silver Breath Peak, Shen Mu pulled out the Elder's token his master had handed him and used it to announce his arrival and gain entry into the peak.

Outwardly, the peak looked no different from Silver Talon Peak. It was a jagged cliff with the width of about fifteen mountains pressed together, and its height seemed to stretch endlessly into the clouds.

As soon as Shen Mu announced himself, the clouds above them churned and swirled. At the center of it, a cyan weathered parchment suddenly flew through and floated gently before them before it suddenly flashed and transformed into a slender, tall old man in cyan robes, which matched the color of his eyes. His skin had a bronze, wax-like appearance, but the longer Yang Qing looked at it, the more it felt like parchment rather than wax.

Is he a treasured artifact spirit? He wondered.

Yang Qing's gaze quickly turned solemn when he realized he couldn't sense anything from the old man. That likely meant one of two things: either the old man was an illusion, or he was vastly more powerful than Yang Qing, so much so that his presence was completely undetectable. If it was the latter, then he was either a domain expert or the spirit of an ascendant-grade artifact.

Yang Qing's instincts leaned toward the latter.