Daily life of a cultivation judge
Chapter 1217 - 1217: His will (2)

Xia Cangfu sighed, then answered,"It was what he wanted, and no one could dissuade him. Though he didn't leave out of guilt, like many in our clan believed."

"Then why did he?"

Xia Cangfu smiled wryly before responding."Like I said, our ancestor's passion for cultivation arts stood out, even in a place like this," he continued.

"When he lost his cultivation base, instead of feeling dejected, he was excited."

"Excited?" Yang Qing asked, raising a brow at the statement. Who would be excited about losing their cultivation base?

"To him, it was an opportunity to see the world through a different lens. He once said there are truths and secrets that perhaps only those who have shattered their core can glimpse and he was thrilled at the thought of excavating those mysteries.

So he requested permission from the sect to leave. To him, he wasn't leaving but was simply going on a research excursion.

Everything he did after that, including founding the Xia Clan, was done to satisfy that curiosity. He may have lost his cultivation base, but even without it, he lived his fullest life and magnificently at that," Xia Cangfu said, his expression full of admiration and quiet praise.

"That said," he added after a pause, "as I mentioned earlier, his twin sister's life and death left a deep mark on him. It influenced many of his habits and choices, especially when it came to his descendants."

"Such as?" Yang Qing asked.

"Screening talents. He set an extremely high threshold for it within the clan, so what happened with his twin sister would never repeat itself.

The tests were difficult and ruthlessly blunt when it came to grading one's talent.

Everyone in the clan dreaded them, including myself," said Xia Cangfu with a wry smile as old memories surfaced.

"But it helped. As tough as it was, it kept us grounded and made us aware of our own abilities, especially those of us selected to join the sect. Those constant rounds of being humbled and tortured by the tests made it easier for us to adapt here, where talents are as common as grains of sand.

At least when we lagged behind, it wasn't a big mental hit. The ancestor's tests had already shown us the reality of our talents and where we stood," Xia Cangfu explained.

"It was a hit to the ego, but it was needed," he added, smiling faintly.

"The Order does the same thing," Yang Qing said with a bitter smile as he faintly recalled all the torture he underwent in his time at the Institute.

"At least we weren't alone," he added as he smiled faintly.

"At least we weren't alone either," echoed Xia Cangfu. The shared sentiment drew a brief chuckle between them, which lightened the atmosphere. However, a few seconds later, it became somber again as Yang Qing's gaze turned lightly solemn.

"Earlier, you said it was your ancestor's will that things ended up playing out the way they did for your clan. What did you mean by that?" Yang Qing asked.

Xia Cangfu's eyes momentarily blurred before regaining their profound clarity.

"From what I've told you about him, what would you say his true legacy was? What would he have valued most?" Xia Cangfu suddenly asked.

"Cultivation arts," Yang Qing answered without hesitation.

Xia Cangfu nodded, clearly pleased. "As expected. Only a creator can understand another creator's heart," he said with praise.

"During his time here, aside from developing the cultivation art meant to elevate one's pillars, he was also toying with another... a sword art. Though back then, his focus leaned more toward the former than the latter.

However, the day he shattered his core, he gained insights from that experience, insights that sparked new ideas for the sword art he'd been working on."

Yang Qing shook his head in disbelief. Even in the face of his core shattering, the founder's mind had never stopped turning. Inwardly, he sighed, imagining what it might have been like to dive into the world of cultivation techniques alongside such a person. The rabbit holes they could have gone down together…

What a shame, he thought, before pulling his focus back to the present.

"After leaving the sect, having already completed the pillar-elevating art, he turned his full attention to the sword art.

In the end, he created two variations of it. One he taught to his disciples, the other he passed down to his descendants.

The one he gave to his disciples had five forms. Each form was like an independent cultivation art—and if graded, each would be on par with a low-tier blue grade technique," Xia Cangfu explained.

"A scripture?" Yang Qing asked.

"Precisely," Xia Cangfu confirmed.

A scripture referred to a cultivation art composed of multiple, independently functioning cultivation arts. It was like a hand made up of five fingers, where each finger connected to the same source, yet was able to move and function on its own.

Scriptures worked in much the same way.

Most powerful sects made scriptures their cornerstone techniques because of their versatility. This flexibility allowed them to better suit the strengths of their disciples, minimizing the risk of a rare talent being wasted simply because the sect lacked a suitable cultivation art to unlock their full potential.

Yang Qing hoped to do the same with the Brilliant Ray Fist Technique. He had designed it with that in mind. Fortunately, the bones of it were already in place, and what now remained was to add some flesh here and there to complete its form.

Still, he couldn't help but sigh in amazement once again at the feats of the Xia Clan founder.

Xia Cangfu continued, "While the one he passed to his disciples had five forms, the version he left for his descendants had two. Each of those forms matched the quality of the ones in the disciples' scripture. They both carried the might of low-tier blue-grade arts.

Viewed as a whole, the combined arts he passed down could be considered somewhere between mid-tier and upper-tier blue grade.

The scripture he gave his disciples was called the Violet Plume Grand Formation Scripture, and the one he left for us was named the Dual Paths of the Azure Pheasant," said Xia Cangfu.

"The reason I mention them is because those scriptures were incomplete," he added.

"Our ancestor's greatest desire was to complete them, and through that, achieve the feat of creating a middle-tier gold grade art, which was the level he estimated the scripture would reach in its perfected form.

But alas time ran out for him before he could see it through," Xia Cangfu said, as a somber sigh slipped from his lips.

"So, with his passing, the duty of completing it fell to us. If all the forms in the two scriptures are mastered to perfection, one can gain insight into how to combine them and uncover the path to elevating the art.

He had hoped that his disciples and descendants would do just that. That both sides would work together to bring the gold-grade art to life.

But things didn't unfold that way.

My clan betrayed his will by stealing the core treasures of the three retainer clans—treasures that held additional insights and parts of the art that our ancestor had entrusted to his disciples.

It would have been one thing if they had taken them in an effort to fulfill his wish. But they didn't. They took them solely to suppress the strength of those retainer clans.

None of them bothered to try and figure out how to achieve our ancestor's last wish. They desecrated his will to serve their own ends," Xia Cangfu said with a pained look.

Smiling bitterly, he added,"As if he could foresee what would happen, our ancestor left a few words to those of us who joined the sect, as well as the peak master and his martial siblings.

His words to us were: Should the Xia clan ever oppress his disciples or their families after his death, we were to let things unfold without interference. From that moment on, the life and death of the clan would be theirs to resolve alone.

We were to sever all ties with them. That is why we couldn't act. The clan cut off that path themselves the moment they chose to forget our ancestor's will," Xia Cangfu said as his gaze turned cold.

"As long as we live, his bloodline still remains, even if the Xia clan outside is wiped out. And while he did care for the clan, our ancestor's true heart belonged to the dao.

For us, his descendants, there is no greater way to honor him, no better way to keep his spirit alive, than by embodying the very essence by which he lived.

They knew who he was, yet chose to act as they did. They forgot him in the way they lived their lives—so even we will forget them in ours.

It is regrettable, but such is the ebb and flow of life," said Xia Cangfu.