Daily life of a cultivation judge
Chapter 1216 - 1216: His will (1)

"After his sister died, he continued with his research into crafting an art that could help improve the grade of one's foundation pillars.

However, after he broke through to the core formation realm, he pivoted the idea and began focusing on improving the grade of cores instead.

His rationale at the time was that if the art could work on a core, then it would most definitely work on foundation pillars," Xia Cangfu continued.

"What was the grade of his core?" asked Yang Qing. "Given the pillars you told me he formed, surely it couldn't have been a quasi-gold grade core like Xia Fang believed?"

"You're right. It wasn't a quasi-gold core, but a quasi-purple core. Bar the one gold-grade pillar he formed at the start, all his other pillars were purple grade," Xia Cangfu explained, pausing slightly before continuing with the rest of the story.

"The peak master at the time was a bit worried about him and the fixation he had with improving the grade of already-formed foundation pillars or cores, but he let him be and allowed him to continue his research. He thought maybe it would help our ancestor process the loss of his sister by occupying his mind with something he loved.

Plus, it was an interesting topic to get lost in," said Xia Cangfu.

"What he didn't expect, though, was that our ancestor would actually use himself as a guinea pig for the technique he was working on.

By the time they realized it, it was too late. The damage had been done, and our founder's core had been shattered," said Xia Cangfu as he let out a sigh.

"The best they could do was preserve his life. It was thanks to the quick action of Senior Shuyuan and the peak master that he survived," he continued.

"How did he manage to take such a risk under their nose?" asked Yang Qing.

His master and Senior Shuyuan were, at the bare minimum, domain experts. No matter how prodigiously gifted the Xia Clan's founder was, his actions shouldn't have escaped the perception of cultivators of their level.

Not unless the two weren't around. But the fact that they acted to save his life proved they were clearly nearby, or at least close enough to sense something wrong.

Then why did they act too late? Or rather, how did the Xia Clan's founder manage to utilize that art without them being aware?

"He used his breakthrough to the palace realm as a cover," said Xia Cangfu, a pitiable smile warming his face.

"He was in isolation, and to avoid disturbing him or interfering with the tribulation, the peak master and the others would have kept their distance. They wouldn't have probed what he was doing.

They only realized something was wrong when his aura suddenly spiked to dangerous levels, triggering the warning arrays around his secluded chamber.

That alarm is what alerted the peak master and Senior Shuyuan. Barely a second passed between the alarm sounding and their response.

But no matter how fast they acted, in the end... they were still too late," said Xia Cangfu, his tone heavy.

"They may not say it, but having spent time with them, and from the looks they sometimes give me, that day still weighs heavily on them," he added.

"Our founder's talent and passion were things they deeply admired. After all, he became a Senior Scholar of the peak when he was just at the third stage of the core formation realm, making him the youngest recorded Senior Scholar ever.

If he hadn't injured himself, there's no doubt in anyone's mind that he would have become the next peak master of Silver Breath Peak.

Judging by that look in their eyes, I'm guessing that by failing to protect our founder, they feel they failed both him and this peak. Because who knows what heights it might have reached with him at the helm."

Xia Cangfu paused as he looked around.

"Even without becoming the peak master, what he achieved in the little time he was here is undeniable," he said, his tone and expression brimming with admiration.

"You know that art..." he continued, shifting his gaze from the surroundings back to Yang Qing.

"It may have crippled him, but it wasn't a failure. Not completely," he added.

"What do you mean?" Yang Qing asked, his interest piqued.

"His core was the factor that destabilized it," said Xia Cangfu before moving to expound further.

"If he hadn't had a quasi-purple core, or if he hadn't been aiming to evolve it into a pure purple-grade core, the art would have succeeded.

But because he did have a quasi-purple core and was trying to push it further, that proved to be too much of a burden on the art.

It was a problem he had foreseen, which is why he waited until he was at the peak of the core formation realm to attempt it.

He believed that with his solid foundation and his understanding as a peak-stage core formation expert, his strength might bridge the gap and compensate for the deficiencies in the art when it came to evolving a core to purple grade.

But despite all the preparation, things didn't go as planned," Xia Cangfu said with a sigh.

"Still, even with the failure, the art accomplished what he originally intended—improving the grade of one's foundation pillars.

It isn't perfect, doesn't guarantee success, and has its limitations... but it works.

What he couldn't do for his sister, he did for others in the sect who benefited from the art he created," Xia Cangfu said softly, a gratified smile spreading across his face.

"Evolving to purple grade," Yang Qing murmured. "I thought I was passionate about cultivation arts, but your ancestor has me beat," he added with a bitter shake of his head.

If he were in his shoes, he wasn't sure he would take that gamble with his life to further the ends of his cultivation art, especially through a risky thing like evolving the grade of your core, especially to a purple one.

If getting a purple grade under normal circumstances was as hard as trying to scale a heaven-sized mountain with no hands or feet. But to evolve an already-formed core into one? That was said to be a hundred thousand times harder.

The latter wasn't just difficult, it was akin to trying to snatch the fortunes of the heavens themselves, since purple grade cores, given their abilities and even quality, were called the purple heavenly cores, and the difficulty of getting them matched the grandeur of their name.

"Stealing from the heavens," Yang Qing softly murmured.

"I am in awe of his spirit," he suddenly said as he rose and did a scholar's salute. It was three fingers pressed horizontally against the vertically placed palm of the other hand

It was a habit he had learned at the Institute. Whenever they studied a new technique for the first time, they had to perform that salute before reading its contents. It was their way of paying respect to the creator of the technique. It didn't matter if it was a low-tier red-grade art or a gold or purple-grade one; the salute was mandatory.

It was a way to acknowledge the creator's role in shaping their cultivation path. After all, cultivators became who they were because of those techniques. Without them, there would be no cultivators.

Yang Qing had created his own art, the Brilliant Ray Fist Technique, by borrowing inspiration from an orange-grade technique. The gold-grade art, Phantom Void Steps, that Dean Zhu Lao created was born from the bones of a red-grade art.

Cultivation arts and techniques, regardless of their grade, were the driving force behind the flow of cultivation itself.

Xia Cangfu rose as well and offered the same salute, his gaze turning to the northeast, toward an elderly man in cyan robes who had also lifted his hands in the same gesture.

When they finished, Yang Qing sat back down, his expression sobering as he finally gave voice to the question that had been gnawing at him ever since he first heard the story of their ancestor.

"With the talent and achievements he showed, even with a crippled cultivation base, he still would have been an asset to the peak. Why let him leave?"

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