The breathtaking view of the Star blooming mist valley destroyed all the foreboding thoughts that Yang Qing had of his impending family dinner and whether his grandfather together with his cohorts would try to pull something during said dinner.
The valley before him washed everything away. The Order had spent the same amount of effort and resources into the valley, that they did when creating the Institute, the Courtroom building, or the Requiem prison.
All three of these places were core to the functioning of the Order, whereas the Star blooming mist valley was a land that all throughout the year would be used once or twice. However, despite its minimal usage, the Order still spent world breaking level of resources building it. Their abodes were the only place that seemed to have been neglected in terms of resources used especially when you concentrated on the areas those in the core formation or the palace realm lived at. This was one of the underlying factors that made Yang Qing suspect that the Order had every intention of working them to the bone otherwise why would they spend the least amount of resources In their employees' abodes?
...
"I wonder how much they spent on this?" Yang Qing wondered as he admired the scenery before him.
The valley was gently sloping and had grass that was uniform in size. Even though they looked like regular grass, every single blade present was a monarch-grade herb, with a couple of ascendant-grade herbs mixed in. They served no other purpose than adding a cool and refreshing feel to the place.
The whole valley was also surrounded by a milky white mist with flickering stars. The starry mist was a result of a variant spirit vein that was in the ground below the valley. That vein was also responsible for the grandeur of the place including such dense spiritual essence that it put the dark valley to shame. Yang Qing's body even started circulating by itself because the qi was not only dense but it seemed to have whispers of the dao along with faint roars of an auspicious beast.
The manifestation of dao within the spiritual qi was a characteristic of one type of spirit vein and that was the ancestral dragon spirit vein something that could only be seen in the holy lands, a few long-standing rank 1 organizations that could essentially be considered quasi-holy lands and some hidden organizations.
Ancestral dragon veins were spiritual meridians that gained some sort of conscious spirituality and were touched by the origin source of the planet. If they were to be classified in terms of treasures they could be considered a quasi-origin treasure whose very nature was tied to the fundamental rules of the planet and in some sense could be considered indivisible from it. Treasures of this nature were considered nigh indestructible and inexhaustible.
The spiritual qi of an ancestral dragon vein would never dry up no matter how much it was used since its very existence was tied to the planet. As long as the planet existed so would it. Having an ancestral dragon vein was a guarantee of the continuity and survival of any organization or race that owned it because its very existence could be considered eternal.
The vein not only provided dense spiritual qi but the dao whispers that accompanied it were also useful to those that were within its sphere of influence. It helped cultivators in gaining insights into different forms of dao thereby creating a route for them to the palace realm which was tied to a cultivator's understanding of the dao and when it came to natural herbs and artifacts, the dao whisper exposure increased their likelihood of awakening their spirituality.
However, it wasn't without its drawbacks. Cultivators with weak foundations such as those in the foundation establishment realm and below and even some core formation experts, could not survive more than a minute around it. The dao whispers would drive them insane and the dense spiritual qi also came with a heaviness that could crush a body-refining realm expert into a bloody paste. This was why the Order spent considerable resources to carve formations that reduced the effects of the ancestral dragon vein in certain areas of the valley.
There were octagon-shaped blue jade platforms all around the valley which was the area the guests sat. Some of those platforms had been inscribed with those formations to aid the guests with weak cultivation bases to be able to survive in the area.
Currently, the location was filled with various staff members from different departments and divisions such as the formation hall and the craftsmanship division. They were doing their final touches to the place to make sure everything was in order.
Yang Qing was guided around the area by Song Guozhi, being shown which guests sat where, and where he would be welcoming the guests among other things. It wasn't his first time here since he went through the same thing when he started as an outer core court judge.
However, there was a difference between then and now, one of them being the range of the guest list. The number that would be coming for the celebration tomorrow was over hundred times what he got when he started. It was to be expected since the larger part of the cultivation world of the Southern continent would not be concerned about some new core formation judge no matter how much talent he had, but it was a different case if it was someone at the palace realm.
Someone at that level would draw eyes from various powerhouses who would want to pay close attention to how powerful the new palace realm judge from the Order really is and use the information to measure them against their own people. It was also a way for them to roughly gauge the power level of the Order and even extrapolate their potential power level in the future based on present findings. For example, a present palace realm cultivator could be a future domain expert in 100 years. With such summations, these powers could guess the power distribution of the Order over the years.
As the man of the hour, Yang Qing was greeted enthusiastically by the staff members present as he gave them a smug humble polite nod in return. He even changed his walking style and gait to try and seem more refined.
It took them almost three hours before Song Guozhi finally finished guiding Yang Qing on all the procedures and forms of decorum he needed to do tomorrow. In addition, much to Yang Qing's pleasure he even gave him a prepared speech which he could use should he need it. Yang Qing warmly accepted it as he made a promise to return the favor should Song Guozhi ever need it. He had done it as a form of politeness and didn't expect someone like Song Guozhi who was a picture of propriety to accept his offer. However, despite the surprise, he wasn't too worried about what type of favor Song Guozhi would ask for. Based on his personality it wouldn't be something out there and if Yang Qing could help he would only be too glad to do so.
After they left the Star blooming mist valley, they both went their separate ways. Song Guozhi went to finalize a few matters while Yang Qing decided to use the little brief time he had before his dreaded dinner at the Yang's to check on Ma Yuan.
Zheng Hu had checked him at one of the courtyards within the Order called the White River pearl courtyard. It was a quaint place for someone who wanted some peace and quiet. Ma Yuan seemed at ease in the place, he even seemed a bit younger, especially with the new pristine white robes he had on, and the little grooming he had done.
Yang Qing didn't stay too long with him and had only come to fill him in on the potential leads he had gotten from the jade talismans he had gotten from Song Guozhi on tomorrow's guest list. He also came to give him an invitation to his promotion ceremony as a form of much-needed distraction for Ma Yuan who was all too glad to accept it since he has been a bundle of nerves from the moment Yang Qing agreed to help him find his wife and daughter.
After exchanging a few words, Yang Qing left and made his way to the Glowing Respite Valley. The time had finally arrived for him to show his face at the Yang family's compound. He had also heard from Zheng Hu that the Zou siblings were at his family's place. Despite his reservations, he had to go home at all costs lest those two siblings turn into unwitting guinea pigs at the hands of his family even before they had a chance to take their examination.
"I hope they are at the Medicine Valley...I can't believe I a palace realm cultivator am afraid of a bunch of old men at the foundation establishment realm. I'd be a laughing stock if other people heard this, especially that bastard Huilang," Yang Qing thought as he ruefully smiled at his trembling hands.
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