Daily life of a cultivation judge
Chapter 1226 - 1226: Searching for clues (3)

Slender white-silver threads, as thin as silk, formed in front of Yang Qing. They gravitated toward one another and combined into a ball. The way they moved and entwined was like yarn being knit.

Those silver threads released a resplendent glow that resonated with the comma-shaped glyphs above and below Yang Qing's eyes.

The temperature around him began to drop. Though it was getting slightly colder than it already was, it wasn't uncomfortable. The chill carried a gentle, refreshing coolness—one that was greatly appreciated by Haishi and Bolin, especially the former.

As a spirit beast whose affinities aligned with the water and yin elements, the environment created by Yang Qing's spell made Haishi feel as though she were in the ultimate paradise. Her body, soul, spirit, and essence all seemed to harmonize with it.

She couldn't help but recall Yang Qing's earlier words—his encouragement to immerse her senses fully into understanding the energy around him, and how the extent of her harvest would depend on the depth of her understanding.

Given the purity and profundity of the energy surrounding him, she had no doubt that even if she did nothing but sit there, she would still benefit tremendously. That was how profound Yang Qing's spell truly was.

And among the beneficiaries, she wasn't the only one. In fact, when it came to who benefited the most, it wouldn't even be her.

Everyone present—from Bolin to Haishi, down to the two sky-rank spiritual plants—would all gain tremendous benefits from Yang Qing's spell. But the one who stood to gain the most amongst them was the Healing Gorge Fog Vine.

The reason for that was, aside from being a plant that predominantly grew on yin energy, its fundamental nature aligned with Yang Qing's Dao. That gave it an advantage over the others when it came to the effects of the spell.

That being said, even if it would be the greatest beneficiary, the others wouldn't be losing out either.

The Yin Yang Genesis, the Vestige of Yin Whispers, was one of the spells born from his Yin Yang Nature Peerless Jade Physique. However, he could only properly use it when he broke through to the core formation realm, where his soul and spiritual essence met the qualitative requirement meant to execute the spell.

The silver thread ball spinning in front of him, surrounded by faint fog, was what he would be using to search for any presence of the nebulous yin qi.

If he were in the domain realm—or even just in the late stages of the palace realm—he wouldn't need that ball at all. His spiritual sense at either of those stages would be vast enough to effortlessly cover the entire gorge, and powerful enough to sift out even the faintest traces of nebulous yin qi, if any were present.

But since he was neither a late-stage palace realm expert nor a domain expert, he could only rely on the spell to further his ends. While his spiritual sense could completely cover the 5 km gorge in terms of range—his maximum limit being 8 km—that didn't mean the results would be the same as if he were in the late stages of the palace realm.

The 5 km range was already pushing close to his limit, which meant he would have to exert himself just to sustain it. And the more stretched a spiritual sense was from the main body, especially near its maximum range, the easier it was to miss things.

So if he wanted to uncover any clues, he could only do so with The Yin Yang Genesis, the Vestige of Yin Whispers. The location he'd chosen, where all the gorge's energies naturally circulated, allowed the spell to serve as both a sensor and a conduit for him.

The silver thread ball sifted through the energies flowing around Yang Qing, isolating the yin energy, which it then absorbed. At the same time, a thread stretched from the ball, retracing the pathway of the yin energies as they entered. The thread worked in tandem with his spiritual sense to retrace that flow, while at the same time, it also placed quite a substantial demand on his soul, which is used to heighten the spell's sensitivity to the yin flow path.

With the spell already in place, Yang Qing immediately deployed another spell.

Pristine Yin Spring.

A spring instantly formed around Yang Qing, forming a ring-like circle around them. The spring's waters were crystal clear and carried a sense of purity that bordered on sacred. Though it appeared directly on the ground, not a single speck of impurity could be found within it.

The silver thread ball levitated a few meters above the crown of the Spirit Water Oak Tree, spinning in a slow clockwise motion. Silver threads gradually flowed out of it and into the pristine spring, forming a cage-like dome around Yang Qing and the others. He was using the spring's effects to supplement the abilities of the silver thread ball.

"I don't know how long this will take. A sensory spell wouldn't hurt," Yang Qing mused, raising his right palm upward.

Yin Salmon Water Veil of Ten Thousand Streaks.

A blue-white water ball instantly formed in his open palm, then exploded outward before reforming into a water curtain that wrapped itself around the thread dome surrounding them.

Haishi and Bolin's eyes were immediately drawn to it when they heard splashing, like something was swimming through the blue water curtain. Yet they couldn't see what was causing the sound.

As they watched, they finally saw it... or rather, them.

Hundreds of white salmon matching Yang Qing's pristine white hair appeared on the water curtain without warning. They swam uniformly and together around the water dome, crisscrossing its surface for a few seconds before the uniformity broke and some individuality began to show. A few drifted off in different directions, while others danced across the surface, leaping free of the water dome only to dive back in.

Some shifted angles and began swimming with their heads and bodies exposed inside the dome. One of them even winked at Haishi and blew her a water bubble. Another flicked its tail, splashing Bolin with a wave of water before laughing cheekily and darting off, leaving a wet and bewildered Bolin behind.

But Bolin's shock wasn't from being splashed out of the blue, or even being laughed at—well, that part did unnerve him a little. His real shock came from how lifelike the salmons were. If he hadn't witnessed them being produced by Yang Qing's spell, he would have assumed they were real.

As he watched them, he couldn't shake the feeling. Their liveliness, their behavior, even the aura they gave off—everything about them felt real. No matter what sense he used— be it his eyes, ears, or spiritual perception—they all told him the same thing: those salmon were alive.

The fact that he knew they were spells yet still couldn't tell the difference mortified him. And that wasn't even the most terrifying part. From the faint aura they gave off in their playfulness, he could instantly tell—any single one of those salmons could effortlessly defeat him.

And then there was one salmon in particular—its aura restrained, smaller than the rest, and seemingly docile as it swam. Yet despite its calm demeanor and subdued presence, it sent Bolin's senses screaming in panic. He wasn't the only one. Haishi, too, had an unconcealed look of fear on her face as she both avoided and glanced toward the salmon's direction.

Even the other salmons seemed to react to it, though their responses weren't as pronounced as Haishi's or Bolin's. They grew reserved around it, giving way when it approached. The more energetic ones quieted down the moment it swam near them.

Yang Qing nodded in satisfaction as he sensed the spell's changes. It was about twice as strong as the last time he'd cast it. His recent Dao discussion with Senior Shuyuan and Xia Cangfu, along with his cultivation and physique improvements, had clearly led to a qualitative leap in his spellwork.

The salmons had always been lively when he cast the spell, especially after he broke through to the palace realm, but not like this, especially when it came to their autonomous actions, and the behavioral distinction that it was showing.

The Yin Salmon Water Veil of Ten Thousand Streaks was a sensory spell from his purple-grade art. Each of those salmons possessed high sensitivity to any minute changes within a 500-meter radius, and each one carried the strength of a quasi–palace stage cultivator—well, all of them except one.

That small salmon, the one that petrified Bolin, carried 40% of Yang Qing's strength, which meant it could effortlessly dispatch any regular first-stage palace realm expert. However, raw strength wasn't its greatest asset.

Given that this was a sensory spell, its true forte was perception. While its strength matched 40% of Yang Qing's, its perceptive capabilities sat at roughly 70% of his own.

It wasn't full parity, but that 70% still made it extraordinarily keen, especially considering it was modeled off someone with an extraordinarily powerful soul. Yang Qing might not be a match for, say, a sixth-stage palace realm cultivator in direct combat, but when it came to spiritual awareness, even they would struggle to sneak up on him. It would take a truly skilled late-stage palace realm expert to approach him without being noticed.

So with that salmon exhibiting 70% of his spiritual abilities, anyone in the early palace realm, whether it be the first or fourth stage, could forget about slipping by unnoticed. Even some at the fifth stage would have a hard time escaping its detection.

The spell made for a great extra pair of eyes—and not to mention, it functioned autonomously, both in operation and sustenance. Yang Qing didn't need to continuously feed it spiritual qi to keep it active. The spell could absorb what it needed from the surroundings, and if that wasn't enough, the Pristine Yin Spring could supplement it.

This was the magic and beauty of spells from the purple-grade art, the Universal Light Resonant Art. Once cast, they could function independently of the caster. That liveliness was a trademark of all spells tied to the art, and it would only grow more pronounced the deeper his mastery of it became, along with his cultivation base and physique.

Satisfied that all areas were properly covered, Yang Qing merged his spiritual sense into the silver thread ball and began sifting through the yin energies it had absorbed in the few brief seconds since it was cast.