Daily life of a cultivation judge
Chapter 1230 - 1230: surprising find (1)

In seconds, Yang Qing was already at his target's location. Trees surrounded the area, mostly cypress, along with a few shrubs, dense undergrowth, and a thin veil of fog that slightly obscured vision. But for a palace realm expert, that limited visibility might as well have been nonexistent. Yang Qing could see things as clear as day, fog or no fog.

The temperature within a 200-meter radius of the area was slightly lower than the rest of the gorge. It was almost identical to the air around the spirit water oak tree after it had been altered by Yang Qing's spells.

The environment was also eerily quiet. While the gorge was generally a silent place, apart from the occasional rustling of leaves or faint insect noises, this spot took that silence a step further. It was quiet to the point of being unsettling.

A small smile tugged at Yang Qing's lips as he eyed one of the cypress trees.

"Is this really necessary?" he asked, gesturing to the air around him with a slow, clockwise rotation of his finger.

Though everything appeared normal on the surface, the space around him was already under the influence of a technique designed to attack the mind and soul.

Had a core formation expert been here in his place, they would have immediately experienced heart palpitations, followed by all the symptoms of someone staring death in the face.

Whatever technique was in play seemed to amplify fear, leaving its victim crippled by it, leaving them unable to even comprehend what they were afraid of or why.

No sooner had Yang Qing spoken than the temperature dropped further, accompanied by a noticeable surge in the technique's power, which sought to influence his mind and soul by reproducing intense feelings of fear.

Previously, given the degree of intensity it had shown in response to Yang Qing's arrival, said technique could affect cultivators at the middle stages of the core formation realm and below. It might have even troubled a few late-stage cultivators with weak wills or spiritual deficiencies, like those souls that were either not up to standard or injured. But now, at its current strength, it no longer mattered whether one had deficiencies or not. Any regular expert within the core formation realm or below, whether it be one at the peak stage of the core formation realm or a first-stage qi refinement cultivator, would all fall victim to its effects, regardless.

To Yang Qing, however, the technique was no different from a gentle, comforting breeze. Even if he had still been in the core formation realm, the result would have been the same. His Yin-Yang Jade Nature Bones Peerless Jade physique granted him an abnormally powerful soul. Combined with his natural talents, it rendered him impervious to all soul and mind targeting techniques and spells cast by anyone within the same cultivation realm as him.

The results wouldn't be any different for someone like Feng Xin, who also possessed a powerful soul thanks to his Peerless Jade Physique, or someone like Su Jinjing, who had been born with a naturally powerful soul.

Yang Qing smiled as he casually walked forward, using his soul to sense the intricacies of the technique at play.

"Not bad..." he praised, then swiftly added, "As expected of a ninefold natural yin array cicada," his eyes gleaming with interest.

Earlier, during the brief tug of war when the foreign power had tried to siphon off some of the yin energy from his spell's current, he hadn't had the chance to discern much about its identity, other than its owner being a quasi palace stage expert and having a thing for yin energy, given on its actions.

But now, being here changed things. Its identity was as plain as day to him. It might have believed it was well hidden, but its entire form was laid bare beneath Yang Qing's Grand Lunar Gaze, which specialized in piercing through illusions. And even if it hadn't been, its attacks alone would have given it away.

The owner of that foreign power was none other than a ninefold natural yin array cicada at the quasi-palace stage.

The spirit beast in question could be considered a special type of spirit beast, especially to formation masters who would trade their entire fortunes to get their hands on it, and the reason for that lay in its abilities..

A ninefold natural yin array cicada was a spirit beast specialized in illusory techniques and abilities, along with spells that targeted the soul and the mind. One of the primary ways it did this was through formations.

What formation masters took years to learn and hone, ninefold natural yin array cicadas knew from birth. They could naturally weave formations with ease to further their ends, and functioned as both the core material and the eye of the formation.

They didn't need anything to execute a formation aside from their own bodies. They were like living formation diagrams or formation flags, except the power they could exhibit was no weaker than that of a permanently placed formation.

They were walking, breathing, living permanent formations—except without the restrictions and considerations that applied to stationary ones, such as geomancy of the area, material requirements, or the obvious issue of mobility.

A ninefold natural yin array cicada had no such limitations. As long as its body and soul were intact, it could unleash its formation wherever and whenever it wished.

If there was one limitation it shared with man-made formations, it was perhaps the issue of energy supply. How long it could sustain a formation was directly tied to its spiritual qi reserves. However, the more skilled the cicada was, the more it could alleviate that burden by borrowing energy from its surroundings, whether it be the ambient spiritual qi in the area or natural features like spiritual veins or yin-type natural treasures.

For example, the ninefold natural yin array cicada before him was relying on an aquifer beneath the cypress it inhabited that was dense with cavern well yin qi. From the fluctuations it gave off, it also seemed adept at drawing the baleful yin qi that was abundant in the environment.

It was a creature gifted at making use of different types of yin qi for its own ends, and not just in the formations it created, but also in its cultivation.

As such, the rule of thumb when it came to them was simple: wherever you found a ninefold natural yin array cicada, a strong yin-related element was never far behind. They needed it for their sustenance and development.

In that sense, they were like permanently placed man-made formations, where the environment or natural treasures used dictated the nature or type of formation placed.

A fire-based formation wouldn't be installed in an area rich in the water element, and vice versa. It was the same for the ninefold natural yin array cicada, though it had more leeway than permanently placed formations. It could still execute its formations even in areas with a scant supply of yin energy—unlike man-made formations, which lacked that kind of flexibility.

However, even if it could operate in those areas, the power of its formations would definitely be weaker compared to those executed in regions with an abundant supply of yin energy.