Daily life of a cultivation judge

Chapter 568 Woes of the outer sect (1)

"A case?" Yang Qing asked partly trying to play dumb and part in the hopes that he had misheard it.

As part of his role as the branch chief, he would still hear cases which was why branch chiefs were mostly judges or inquisitors since that was one of their core duties.

The pavilion also had a courtroom which though wasn't as extravagant looking as those in the headquarters, still had the same grandeur of authority that Order courtrooms had. During the tour, it had been one of the first places the administrator Mo Guang took them to.

"Yes, a case. As you've probably been informed, you will be handling cases that are within the Deer Mountain Range, and the surrounding territories that fall within a 50,000-kilometer radius away from the boundary of the range.

These cases are usually sent to the administration department at the headquarters first for evaluation and it is only when they confirm a few parameters like its location, nearest branch, and abilities and qualifications of the personnel of the closest branch, do they decide whether to send that case to the branch or have it solved at the headquarters.

We have met the criterion for one of those cases. I will leave this with you since it's more of your area of expertise than mine. 

It contains details of said case.." Mo Guang said as he handed Yang Qing a recording jade talisman that had a seal on it.

"Thanks.." Yang Qing said with a deflated expression as he took the talisman to the office that was next to the courtroom.

"I hope it's not a handful or one with many twists. Please let it be an easy and direct one.." Yang Qing muttered to himself as he used his gold eagle badge to remove the seal on the talisman.

With the seal removed, he could now read its contents.

The case concerns the Striding Falcon Sect located 32,000 kilometers westward from the Deer Mountain Range.

The sect is a rank 3 sect with the potential of a demotion if it doesn't get another palace realm expert.

The sect has only one palace realm expert who as confirmed by the Shadow Hawks Division is at the fourth stage of the palace realm.

The confirmation done by the Shadow Hawks was 15 months ago and it is highly unlikely that the circumstances may have changed, though the Shadow Hawks is re-evaluating the status as we speak.

'The palace realm expert in question goes by the name of Liu Kang, and he was the supreme elder of the sect up until 1,200 years ago when he decided to retire from his position and undergo a death seclusion.

He was already about 12,000 years old at the time and is slowly catching up to his 15,000-year limit to his lifespan..'

"A death seclusion , huh.." Yang Qing muttered with a sigh.

Death seclusion was a cultivator's last-ditch effort at forcing a breakthrough. They would either die in the process or succeed. There was no in-between. You put your entire life at stake.

Most who used such an extreme method were usually cultivators who were at the end of their lifespans. The longer you lived, the scarier the thought of your lifespan ending out on you becomes. 

It was easier for most cultivators to accept their death after a heavy injury than for them to accept dying of old age. Watching their lifespan dwindle about was a much more torturous experience than dying to poison or a fatal injury.

The reason for this was simple, it was much easier to accept something that you couldn't change than it was something you could.

A fatal injury like a shattered dantian, one wouldn't be able to do anything about it if it happened to them, but dying of old age, to cultivators that had a remedy and it was simple, just breakthrough to the next minor or major stage and your cultivation increases, and if you had just one year left, it would shoot up to 500 for just breaking through one level. 

Rather than sit and wait for the death that could be changed, it was better to risk it for the chance of averting the disaster, hence death seclusion was born.

If one was to take count, the retired supreme elder of the Striding Falcon Sect who was at the early stage of the palace realm had lived 13,200 years of his lifespan as an early-stage palace realm and was now left with 1,800 years.

To a mortal that was a lot of years, but to cultivators who had seen the change of dynasties and the aging of the world, those years were just but a drop in the eyes of the powerful cultivators.

If the retired supreme elder was able to leap from the fourth stage of the palace realm to the fifth stage of the palace realm he would gain 5,000 years for just that one leap.

Risking it all for that opportunity was understandable, since other than the increase in lifespan, he would be a middle-stage palace realm cultivator which would give him the capital to traverse to different areas he couldn't before or get him through doors he couldn't before. A whole world of opportunities would open before him which would help him improve his abilities or even find other means to increase his lifespan without necessarily having to break through.

Yang Qing soon shook his head free of the scattered thoughts and continued reading the report.

Rumors started floating around that he may have died since nothing had been heard from him the one thousand years which has led to the sect existing in an almost fractured state.

The current sect master, whose master was martial siblings with the former supreme elder leads one faction, while the other faction is being headed by the chief elder who is supported by various parties both within and outside the sect. They have more momentum and support than the sect master's faction and the only reason they have not acted to oust the sect master is because of retired supreme elder Liu Kang. They can not confirm his status whether he is dead or alive, and can only alude to it.

The case in question isn't on the succession of the sect but on those below, more specifically the outer sect disciples.