Daily life of a cultivation judge

Chapter 549 A month passes by (2)

"There will be a gold eagle guard maintaining handling the security of the branch during the duration of your stay there, so even though the array will not be there by the time you start, your safety and that of your team will be guaranteed. You can rest easy on that.."

"Thank you.." said Yang Qing with heartfelt sincerity.

"Speaking of your team, you can inform us now or later, who you want to bring along so they have their inductions too.."

"I will need to confirm with them first if they don't have any cases pending, but in my team, I would like to bring the three spirit beasts attached to us. That is the rainbow mist toad, the cloud-swallowing kite, and the mirage dragonfly, if it's not too much trouble.."

"It's okay, we will have someone from the beast tamer hall bring them over after this.."

Yang Qing nodded in gratitude. Of the three spirit beasts he mentioned, he wanted Bolin and Haishi with him mostly to look at their progress thus far and build camaraderie if he could, as for Ellie, it was a no-brainer, he didn't trust her at all. Feng Xin wasn't there to hold her leash, and the starlight crab wasn't her match yet. She would ransack his pond clean if she discovered he wasn't around.

Xi Si guided him on a few more things before she handed him a finger-sized artifact that looked like a deer's antler. The artifact was the controlling artifact of the entire branch. It controlled all the formation arrays within the branch, while also serving as the entrance key to all the restricted facilities within the branch that only the branch chief would have access to.

Yang Qing came in he was absolutely terrified but when he was leaving he was absolutely chipper. He looked like he couldn't wait to get started as he made outlandish promises which only grew when Xi Si handed him a basket of dumplings.

It was only when he was at the auspicious grove did some sanity and clarity returned to him. He had cold sweats all over when he remembered all of the things he was mouthing off toward the end.

"I hope they don't take me at my word..."

Over the next few weeks, he still maintained his schedule with the six-hour visits at the auspicious grove while still making trips to the Medical Valley to refine his healing arts and also check on Hao Da and the rest.

The three surviving members made rapid recovery though they remained unconscious. The poisoning, the petrification, curses, and other extensive damages they had suffered on their bodies had all been mended, the only remaining part was purging the miasma that had invaded their souls down to their mental seas.

The purging required them to be unconscious to avoid it spreading deeper into their soul and mental sea. 

Ma Yuan's daughter, Ma Ling was also showing some improvements albeit it was mild but it was still progress which brought endless joy to Ma Yuan even though he was still basically a stranger to his daughter. 

Yang Qing was relieved to see Ma Yuan start to live rather than the dreadful state he found him in. He now seemed like he genuinely looked forward to each day, and when he was not visiting Ma Ling, he was excitedly working in Yang Qing's backyard.

Ma Yuan's state was a huge boon for Yang Qing as it sort of freed his mind and some of the shackles he had inadvertently placed on himself which increased the speed with which he conquered his mental demons via the brook of clarity.

The vivid flashbacks did not have as much of a mental burden on him as they did at the start and he was finally starting to make sense of what the auspicious wood grove tree had told him before he started the treatment. Seeing things from his true self would free him from whatever plagued him, as he would be able to see it clearly, and closer to the end of the month he finally did. He came to terms with the events of the Ice Emerald Sect, as only Yang Qing would.

Yang Qing's eyes fluttered with clarity as his gaze fell on the image playing out on the waters of the brook of clarity. The scene was that of the young disciples before his attack fell on them. 

This was the true root of his internal demons, the part that he struggled with, those faces so full of life. Faces of those who lived and expected to live. Faces of hope faces of expectation.

"Some of you would have grown to be looked up to by others, some of you would have grown to lead your sect into greater heights, some of you would have given hope and a chance to someone out there suffering, some of you would have remained the same, some of you would have inspired others, some of you would have been the strong trees to shelter the saplings underneath you, but all of that was cut short by me...." Yang Qing said as his gaze fell on each of those faces.

"You will never get to live the lives you envisioned or affect those around you if you had lived because you are now...dead.

I wish you weren't, which was something I struggled to come to terms with. Thinking that my hands affected me so much. I felt like a robber, no different from those fiendish cultivators who use the lives of others to grow their strength like cauldrons.

I was so consumed by the guilt that the future and the destiny that I robbed you was all I could see.

But you see, this is uncharacteristic of me, the arrogance of it all. I can't see the future, who's to say you would have grown up to be what I imagined you to be? 

Here I was carrying the burden of a future that I couldn't predict and condemning myself because of it when the only thing I can control is the here and now, and the only actions I can guide are my own.

I gave you all something that the Shu clan, the Chu clan, the Sunflame kingdom, and countless others like Ma Yuan's wife and daughter and even Ma Yuan himself didn't get, which was a choice.

A chance to choose your next steps and maybe even your fate. Choice is a gift that not many get to have in this world and at the very least you got that.

A chance to choose whether to leave or stay with the sect to the end. You made your choice, and despite how it ended, you lived, as choice is a privilege of the living. Your lives are your own to decide, just as mine is my own to decide. 

I accept and respect your choice, as for me, there is so much for me to do than get lost in endless loops of what-ifs. Life is for the living and I intend to spend mine laughing; eating, and trying to weasel every free meal that I can from my friends, the Order, and anyone that I can think; try to exploit the Order as often as I can; exploring the free open-air cultivation market for some buried treasure, deciphering broken cultivation arts and weird artifacts; maybe eventually confessing to this oddball girl that I like, hopefully, she does it first, otherwise she may end up secretly recording me with over a dozen talismans if I end up doing it first.." A goofy smile appeared on his face as he said that.

"Keep my word, honor my commitments and relationships, and help those I can, but if it risks my life doing it, then I may choose not to, and so many more things that I hope are waiting for me. So you see.."

"I will continue living, and it's time to say goodbye. I hope in your next lives you will see it to all you hope for and if by chance you want to come seek vengeance, I will be here at the Order, with powerful seniors waiting to welcome you. Farewell specters of the Ice Emerald Sect," a shackle seemed to break from within Yang Qing's mind as a cooling warm sensation enveloped his whole body.