Yang Qing and the rest were astounded by the Yellow lotus sect's plan especially the outward ruse with Zhao Qi and the Mountain spring pavilion. Though the shock was mild as both Yang Qing and Yi Jie had felt something off with the Yellow lotus sect from the start.
Mao Yunru at the side had her eyes filled with a cluster of stars as she carefully stored away the excess white jade talisman like some precious treasure as she silently muttered under her breathe,
"You, I'll watch you after supper, then you, will be before bed, you will be in the morning before I get to work, as for you...."
She went on designating set timelines for each of the white jade talismans.
Yang Qing shook his head as he wondered if she planned to live in the Order as she wouldn't be allowed to step out of the building with any of the talismans with the recorded proceedings. It was a severe and punishable offense by the Order, one that they did not take lightly.
The only plausible way Mao Yunru could use the white jade recording talismans in the times she set was if she decided to live in the courtroom building full-time.
It could be doable as every judge is given their own chambers in the building which only get better the higher up in rank they are. Though it was called a chamber it was more like an abode.
Every judge's chambers usually had an office where extra recordings of all the cases the judge has dealt with would be kept, a roster of his duties, and other pertinent documents relevant to their job such as progress reports on certain sentences. There would also be a cultivation room that was fitted with isolation arrays, amplification arrays for spirit qi density, and among other treasures that would help them get into meditation easily and boost their cultivation speeds.
Being a cultivation judge was a taxing job that would leave one with barely any time to cultivate. The Order had gone all out to ensure each of the judge's cultivation rooms was fitted with resources that would create the most optimum environment for their judges to cultivate. They spared no expenses as even the lowest judge from the lower core court had their chambers fitted with a treasure that was at the monarch rank at the very least and the spirit density of that room matched blessed grounds of rank 3 sects that were headed by a palace stage expert.
It was because of this environment that there were some judges who preferred cultivating in their chambers as opposed to their living quarters.
In addition to the office and the cultivation room, there was also the training room that was the size of a small arena but sturdier than one as it could handle a full blow from a domain realm expert. All training rooms from the lower core courts up to the palace courts were all made of the same materials. It was only when one reached the domain courts and above that the materials and standard of the training rooms would change.
There was also an alchemy room, blacksmithing room, talisman refining room, and other professional-based rooms that were in line with the talents of the occupant of that room. They were all equipped with the relevant accompanying arrays and equipment. However, sourcing of ingredients such as for alchemy for example would all be on the judge's dime which had gutted Yang Qing when he heard it.
He had tried to secretly rally other judges together and even sent some secret complaints to the Order to stop being stingy and that their actions were tantamount to slowing down the strides the Order could make through their young talents. He wrote a rather impassioned speech.
A large gathering joined his cause which got too large for him to control or do things covertly. It's not known how and by whom, but despite his camouflage arts, cloaking techniques, and every other covert arts he could use to not be found out as the instigator, he was found out by the higher-ups. They agreed to sell the resources such as herbs, spiritual metals, and the like at an extremely discounted rate that was too low to even be reasonably called a discount. But in exchange, they had to have tangible evidence that they were putting it to good use and not just wasting it away like rich young masters. As for Yang Qing as the instigator of all this, he got his just rewards.
The spirit stones that were provided for free to provide the arrays the energy they needed to run were no longer provided. He had to source his own. His chambers were reduced in size to half of what it was. The middle-grade monarch rank treasure that was provided was downgraded to a low-grade one though it would have been further downgraded to a high-grade sky rank treasure if not for his shameless begging that left one of the administrators with snort in their robes.
He is one of the few judges who almost never steps into his chambers. Every time he goes in he always struggles not to cough up blood due to the upkeep costs of the place. He has never joined any movement since then, he even sneakily tells on his colleagues in the hopes of getting in the good graces of the higher-ups.
...
Yang Qing sympathized with the predicament the sect master and the Yellow lotus sect found themselves in but the Order's hands were tied in this.
The Order's primary focus has always been on the protection of the lives of ordinary people as for disputes between cultivators they could only step in after the fact or if both parties decide to involve the Order in its dispute.
In the Yellow lotus sect's case, there wasn't much the Order could do at the moment except wait until the battle happened and its scale that's when depending on how everything played out they would decide whether to enact justice or not but by that time the Yellow lotus sect would have already been destroyed.
This was a cultivator's world, yes the Order tried as much as it could to maintain some balance but the rules that governed a cultivator's society still applied. Fights between cultivators were inevitable.
The Yellow lotus sect might be the ones on the chopping block now but in their rise, they had destroyed their fair share of sects and clans along the way. Their enemies may have been suppressed to the limit by the palace stage experts of the Yellow lotus sect when they were around. Being forced to pay tributes, and having their business swallowed up. Things like these were a common occurrence.
With the long lives cultivators had that meant grudges and feuds lasted just as long. There were intertwining webs that one couldn't trace who is in the right or wrong. This is why the Order in situations such as these where the opposing parties were almost similar in strength adopted a wait-and-see approach. They were not every person's shield because if they were lots of sects, clans and other organizations out there would use the Order for their own means.
However, there were also extenuating circumstances in which the Order would have to intervene. For example, if a higher-ranked sect was attempting to destroy a lower-ranked sect e.g a rank 3 sect targeting a rank 5 sect. The Order would step in and review the cause of the feud and if they find the rank 5 sect to be the innocent party they would enact justice on their behalf. Another would be if a sect voluntarily surrenders but still gets massacred root and stem the Order would have no choice but to step in.
Had the Yellow lotus sect decided on that route then the Order would have ensured a safe route for them in their surrender. But from the sect master's statement, Yang Qing could see the whole sect had every intention of fighting it out with their enemies to the last person. In such a situation as long as their fight doesn't end up destroying dragging unaffiliated members in and other innocents, they wouldn't interfere up to a point and that point is usually up to the Order.
…..
"So sect master Han Qingling what do you want from the Order? In as much as you are in a huge predicament, the Order can't actively participate in the ruse though.
The Mountain spring pavilion has to get its dues and from the moment you filed a suit against Zhao Qi and treated him as a separate entity from the Yellow lotus sect we saw him as such and thus he deserves his justice too, as Zhao Qi the cultivator.
Since it has already reached this point why not trust them both with the truth and give them the option to choose for themselves what their best recourse is? You already planned to tell Liu Yun a year later so telling him earlier shouldn't make a difference plus as someone who may potentially be targeted despite your careful plans, I think he ought to know beforehand so he knows what to expect.
But I'll let you think on it sect master Han Qingling in the meantime I still need to hear things from Zhao Qi's side then we can all decide the best way to move forward," Yang Qing said as he flashed from his seat and reappeared in front of Zhao Qi's compartment.
Han Qingling stood silently at the side as he ruminated over Yang Qing's words before he let out a heavy sigh seemingly having come to a decision.
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