Daily life of a cultivation judge

The foundational circle was something he had learned from his clan's old friend, Alchemist Ma Bo, the guest teacher from the Jade Dao Leaf Imperial Academy.

He was the one who coined the term as he and the rest of the Yang clan members were refining their body refinement techniques.

Body refinement was a complete evolution of the cultivator from a cultivator. Everything that constituted the body had to be worked on, no part could remain neglected especially if one had the hopes of reaching the gold body, the diamond body, and the peerless jade physique stage.

The ingredients used had to match the user's body, the user had to extract every benefit completely from said ingredients, and to finally ensure that they could grasp their abilities, their mind, soul, and willpower had to be elevated to match their body's progress.

Not one aspect could be missed or there would be an imbalance.

Each of the locations he had visited addressed one component of the foundation circle but as far as Yang Qing knew, spirit beasts didn't need it.

It was always said the world was a balance of scales. If it's taken from one part, it will be added to another. It was a coin with two sides.

Spirit beasts progressed slowly in their cultivation but in exchange for that weakness, they had an almost perfect body which was why even a foundation-level spirit beast may have the same lifespan as a human palace realm expert.

Using the foundation circle on them was a bit redundant as it polished something that was already polished.

But it didn't take long for Yang Qing to connect the dots.

"Not unless they are laying the foundation for another physique and the current one is unable to measure up to the demands.." muttered Yang Qing.

From the battleground, he had already detected that the daughter of the obsidian serpents had a purer aura of a flood dragon than her father.

Yang Qing had never witnessed a spirit beast's evolution but considering how vital their bodies' were to them, it stood to reason that evolution meant a complete replacement of everything within the spirit beast and such an extreme transformation had to come with huge risks.

Those risks were only lowered if the spirit beast in question had the particular bloodline already in the system and it was only a process of excavating and strengthening it, but if it didn't then evolution would mean the destruction of the spirit beast's body to form a new one.

As far as Yang Qing knew, obsidian serpents were far removed from the line of flood dragons, so the transformation would likely be an evolution rather than a bloodline excavation.

"The foundation circle could be the way they curbed the risk. Strengthening the body, slowly transforming and molding it so it's able to gradually handle the process.

But is the fire adler bear really this skilled or did he get help but if he did then from who?" Yang Qing wondered as he remembered that ephemeral trace he discovered by accident at the location with the inner flame mosaic flower.

"Maybe Meifeng may have some answers.." he added as he turned to leave the place.

As he made his way to Meifeng's cavern, he picked up Bolin and Haishi who both cut sorry figures especially the former.

He had deep lacerations all over his body, there was not a single part of his body that didn't have a clean cut that was releasing dark smoke.

The sight would make anyone wince as for Haishi, even though her injuries seemed lighter, they were nonetheless bad. A few of her wings looked to be hanging on by a thread and she could barely hover in the air.

They both looked relieved the moment Yang Qing appeared with a bit of resentment but relief quickly washed it away.

They were not strangers to being injured and despite how dangerous the circumstances had been, they had comfort in the knowledge that Yang Qing would show up if their lives were truly in danger even if they didn't know about the spiritual imprint he had left on them.

The resentment they had was because of how sudden it had been.

"You both did well.." Yang Qing said with an encouraging smile as he healed their injuries. 

Of course, the two heard none of it but quickly gave in when they sensed Yang Qing's wonderous healing abilities. They felt like they had been the greatest massage in the world that completely washed any form of injury and fatigue from their bodies and even after he was done healing, the deeply satisfied and refreshed feeling didn't go away.

"At least right now you should have some idea of the areas that you need to work on and you can already feel the training you had was for naught, especially you Bolin.." said Yang Qing as he sensed around the area.

There were a few ghost blade mantis and other spirit beasts that had lost their lives. He could tell that the most were at Bolin's hand.

Bolin quickly nodded as he heard Yang Qing's words before he said,

"I am deeply thankful for the efforts you and Miss Luo Meili gave me.." 

He performed a deep bow as he said this. The brief reprieve gave him the chance to analyze things clearly. 

Before today even after he joined the Order, he would have never thought he would have been able to survive against spirit beasts as terrifying as the ghost blade mantis without his poison.

His poison was what helped him survive the green fog swamp. As a place filled with poisonous beings, and those with a certain level of immunity to said poisons, his poison managed to stand out amongst the masses. It was to the point that the black cosmos caiman had tried to recruit him over a thousand times and when it didn't fail, tried to have him killed just as much but he survived thanks to it.

Other than his poison he had no confidence in anything else. His body was small and lacked the explosive power common in other spirit beasts and his speed while he was agile it could be considered above average at best which would not have been able to help him survive a place as dangerous as the green fog swamp or any other place for that matter. 

But today against all expectations in a place unfamiliar to him, without his poison he was able to survive the onslaught of spirit beasts such as the ghost blade mantis despite both sides being at the same cultivation level.

He still couldn't believe it. His body seemed completely different. It felt lighter and he seemed to have fine control of everything within it and the biggest surprise was his rejuvenation abilities. No matter how much the ghost blade mantis sliced him, it would instantly repair and he even felt his skin getting tougher with every healing cycle. The blades of the ghost blade mantis didn't tear him apart as easily as they did at first which was what allowed him to retaliate back.

He felt like he had been reborn anew with a whole new world suddenly opening up to him. Bolin clenched and unclenched his front limbs still in slight disbelief with wonder in his eyes.

Had he not fallen into the Order's hands, would he have discovered something like this?

He couldn't help but feel exhilarated at how many more discoveries awaited him. Being dumped in the middle of nowhere with vicious spirit beasts wasn't as terrifying anymore.

"I promise to help you see and experience things you never thought possible.." Yang Qing said when he saw the fired look in Bolin.

Though Haishi still seemed to have some bit of wariness, she nonetheless had that intoxicated look one had when they discovered something they never thought they could do.

Yang Qing would help expand their abilities and scope beyond their imagination. Of course, part of the reason was for their benefit but the other was, the more powerful they were the easier his caseload would be.

"Haishi, Bolin, grow stronger, your boss here needs you.." he eagerly thought with an enthusiastic smile on his face.

The two spirit beasts, unaware of his thoughts, reciprocated the sentiment with gestures of gratitude and pride at seeing Yang Qing's smile of 'approval.'

..

Cavern of the parasitic purple flower spore sycamore tree,

"Adler isn't good with plants not in the slightest. He is completely horrible with them. Of the many beatings he suffered from Lady Gild, a couple of them were because he damaged a bunch of her gardens.." said Meifeng with a perplexed look at Yang Qing's question.

Yang Qing made his way to her cavern with Haishi and Bolin in tow to ask Meifeng about the things he found in the locations she had informed him about.

"What about Lady Gild?"

"She was great with flowers and plants but I don't know about geomancy or the blood pond... maybe she might. She knew a lot of things.." answered Meifeng.

"Did Lady Gild also know the obsidian couple?" asked Yang Qing.

"Not that I know of.." Meifeng said with a pensive look as she tried to recall if there was an interaction between the two sides.

"But then again she was famous, so maybe their paths may have crossed..."

"The timeline doesn't seem to add up,.. she should have already left by the time the fire adler bear came to brag about accomplishing something, which should probably be the evolution of the obsidian serpents' daughter.." thought Yang Qing.

"And you're sure Lady Gild has never returned in the past 1,000 years?" asked Yang Qing.

Meifeng's words made it seem that it was less likely for the fire adler to have created the foundation circle.

"No, she hasn't!" Meifeng hysterically said.

"At least I don't believe so. If she did, then she would have come to see me...fire adler would have come too...the badger too... I would not have been alone if she was around.." she added in a low tone with despondency filling her.

Seeing her state, Yang Qing decided to change tact and shelve whatever questions he had and opted instead to have an impromptu celebration party with her, the diamond beetle, the skylark, the crescent moth, Haishi, and Bolin.

It started slow but with no time, the party was already in full swing with Meifeng dancing around the pond to the background of the melody of the skylark with the diamond beetle, the crescent moth, and Haishi flying around the purple flowers with the light of the moon reflecting of their bodies adding to its beauty, as Bolin and Yang Qing sang off-key to some songs Yang Qing was making up on the spot, horribly at that.

The party went all through the night, with Yang Qing, Haishi, and Bolin leaving midday the next day.