Yang Qing couldn't help but suck in cold air once he heard that the senior Lei Weiyuan was talking about is a judge in the superior domain court.
This was the court of the big shots. Just like the core formation courts, it has three different types of courts too i.e. the outer domain court, the inner domain court, and lastly the superior domain court.
Those who could be judges in the superior domain court at the bare minimum had to be at the peak of the domain stage in addition there was another special attribute they had to have. That attribute was what made them stand out even against other peak domain experts. An attribute that can only be gotten by someone who formed a purple core in the core formation.
It wasn't always a guarantee that those who had a purple core would awaken that attribute when the time came but more often than not it went that way as having a purple core was a prerequisite though there have been instances that even those with gold cores did manage to do it but even then their results were usually a stroke of fortune that couldn't be replicated as opposed to the purple core that is almost guaranteed to form it as long as one has sufficient time and resources.
This was what made those at the superior domain court the absolute best of the best who could even manage to escape from an early-stage soul formation expert alive. Defeating a soul formation expert whilst still in the domain stage even at the peak was an impossible feat not unless 10 half-step soul formation experts with deep sturdy foundations banded together but even then it would be a draw at best or mutual destruction at worst. Those in the soul formation realm even at the early stages had unfathomable means and outrageous strength that they could slaughter someone 5,000 miles away from them no matter what amount of protection they hid under.
If a soul formation expert wanted you dead, the best you can do is put on a clean rob, leave your affairs in order, clean your neck, and await the inevitable. So it was a huge feat for someone in the domain realm to be able to guarantee their survivability against an opponent at the soul formation. It was for this reason that the judges of the superior domain court mostly handled cases that concerned rank 1 organizations that had a soul formation expert at the helm. In addition, they were responsible for conducting the test for those seeking to join the outer and inner domain courts.
Yang Qing understood now why Lei Weiyuan had his reservation about revealing the senior's identity. He might have very well been his superior as they vetted court supervisors too and gave their recommendations to the chief administrator and spirit council.
"Okay supervisor Lei Weiyuan," Yang Qing said as he cupped his fists in understanding.
Yang Qing seemingly remembering something decided to fill Lei Weiyuan in on the Yellow lotus sect's ruse to try and save their disciple's life and the farce they created.
"What do you intend to do?" Lei Weiyuan calmly asked.
"For the best resolution, I feel everyone should come clean and lay their cards on the table starting with the sect master of the Yellow lotus sect. Of course, if senior Deng Chao doesn't wish to reveal himself to the Yellow lotus sect I will respect his wishes since we can come to a favorable conclusion without his involvement. But sect master Han Qingling has to come clean to their disciple Zhao Qi and also owner Liu Yun of the Mountain spring pavilion. Without them knowing it would be hard to come to a decent ending," Yang Qing patiently explained.
"Will he agree to it?"
"From what I can tell about the man he seems like a decent and intelligent person. I doubt he doesn't have the same worries as I do concerning Zhao Qi. The mental blow he suffered from this whole thing if left unresolved may end up as an inner demon that may cripple his future achievements permanently or the considerable risk he would be putting the Mountain spring pavilion without giving them the full picture of things," said Yang Qing.
"Your worry isn't unfounded as I can tell the boy is riddled with inner turmoil. Though it's best we confirm with the person who has been with him through all this…
Excuse me fellow daoist pardon me for asking but how is young Zhao Qi fairing in all this?" Lei Weiyuan asked as he finally turned to Deng Chao.
He waved his palm and cordoned their voices from reaching Zhao Qi. He opted for them to use their voices instead of their spiritual senses for Yang Qing's sake. Using your spiritual sense to communicate ran a risk of having your mental sea being invaded especially if the person you are talking to is stronger than you.
Yang Qing was just a fledgling in the first stage of the palace realm whereas Deng Chao was a seasoned expert who despite being some sort of residual spirit right now and extremely weak from what he once was, he is still a bonafide peak domain stage expert and from what Lei Weiyuan could tell he may very well be half step soul formation expert considering how his spirit form seemed so tangible.
Deng Chao realized Lei Weiyuan's precautionary means but he didn't say anything and went along with it.
"Were it a different person they would have been okay with time but because it's him I can't help but worry.
I met little Zhao Qi when he was just a few weeks old in an abandoned shack in the middle of the grey haze mountains a few hundred miles from where the Yellow lotus sect is located," Deng Chao paused as his brow constricted in grief.
"After clashing with the unknown half-step soul formation expert and his party my body got destroyed in the aftermath along…with my brothers. I thought I would die along with them which would have been a welcomed ending for me but sadly I survived. Though it would be more apt to say I was rescued and the rescuer was the real cause behind my sect being decimated, the milky way crescent moon pearl, a saint-grade treasure. Though I would trade it in a heartbeat for the lives of my brothers and sect mates."
One could hear the deep anguish and even a faint loathing in his tone. Did he hate the people who attacked his sect or the treasure that caused all this? It was a doubt if even Deng Chao himself knew.
"So the treasure really existed and from the looks of it the unknown experts left empty-handed," Lei Weiyuan silently thought.
"I had found the treasures almost two decades before the sect was attacked. I got it from the Millionsfold treasure ocean after a bitter struggle. I made sure to clean my tracks so it could not be traced back to the sect that we had a saint-grade treasure but it still got out somehow and I don't know how….
In those 20 years, I successfully managed to form a faint connection with the spirit of the milky way crescent moon pearl. It was because of this that I was able to access a tiny part of its power which I used to strike against the half-step soul formation expert despite being in the peak stage of the domain realm. Thanks to it my abilities approached the soul formation realm and I managed to take the half step too in the midst of the battle. But it was all for naught as the expert had a trump card too, the personal weapon of a soul formation expert. Despite not being the owner he triggered a part of its abilities which managed to balance out my attack and destroy the sect and everyone in it. The milky way crescent moon pearl on detecting my life was in peril forcibly incubated my pseudo spirit and flashed away.
It ended up in the shack Zhao Qi was abandoned in. At the time my pseudo spirit was injured and it took the pearl almost 380 years for it to successfully heal my spirit. During that whole time, I was in a foggy state, in and out of consciousness with fragmented memories that were only stitched together when my spirit was fully healed.
By the time I was fully lucid, I noticed a weak baby tightly holding the milky way pearl in its hands as it suckled on it.
It was fate that brought us together. A baby abandoned in the middle of nowhere and a half-dead old man with no one. Though I was in a weakened state and had lost most of my abilities, with my strengthened spirit I was able to take care of him and when he reached 6 years I asked him to join the Yellow lotus sect so he can be around children his own age and I wanted him to find lifelong friends as I did with my brothers. He was too young to be some old geezer living alone in the mountains with an old ghost for company," Deng Chao lightly chuckled as he remembered vividly painting that picture for Zhao Qi with mystic arts which scared him so much that he agreed to join the Yellow lotus sect the very next day despite being vehemently against it.
"I was happy when he agreed to join which was a welcomed tonic for my endless regrets.
He tried to hide it but I could tell he was excited and mildly afraid at the chance of meeting other people since the mountain we stayed in barely had any intruders due to the presence of spirit beasts at the core formation stage and the cold and foggy atmosphere.
I was proud of him for taking that step despite living with fears of abandonment all his life. Being in my state and him being an intuitive child it didn't take long for him to figure out he was abandoned in the shack. Since he made the discovery I would occasionally spot him having a melancholic look he got sometimes where he wondered why he was abandoned to die alone on some mountain. This made letting people in a terrifying thing to him but he did it after some time when he joined the sect.
He successfully joined the sect and I secretly guided him in the Yellow lotus sect's cultivation arts. I would have loved to teach him my sect's art but he ran the risk of being found out by my enemies if he ever used it so I only used part of it to help him in laying his body foundations to the gold state and improve his qi. From the qi stage going onwards, I decided to stick to the Yellow lotus sect's arts. They may not match the crystal jade palm art but with some improvements, they were a decent art to learn since they were already in the lower blue grade.
With my guidance, Zhao Qi started to soar in the sect.
I felt pity for Zhao Qi though since he clearly has a great talent for cultivation and at the bare minimum, I'm sure he would reach the palace stage. With stronger arts those odds get better but alas I still don't know who targeted us so I couldn't risk it despite how beneficial it would be for him.
The positives that came from this though were Zhao Qi finally made friends, and he got a master who looked out for him. He was slowly opening up to the sect and letting it be an important part of his life. It was like he finally started living.
So the sect treating him like this after he opened up himself to them came as a massive hit. The thing he dreaded most happened again, abandonment. I wanted to raze the sect to the ground but I'm too weak to do anything now and not all the people were bad as the friends he made still remained close to him despite the drama that surrounded him.
So after deciding with him, we decided it was better to cut ties with the sect and when the opportunity presented itself with this case I told him to take it.
To answer your question, No Zhao Qi isn't okay and I don't know if he will be considering I lost my brothers, and sect mates over 400 years ago, and I'm still lost, I can only imagine what it is like for him," Deng Chao said as his gaze lingered worriedly on Zhao Qi who seemed to have calmed down a bit but still had a despondent look to him.
