Daily life of a cultivation judge

Chapter 545 Meeting with the wily old foxes (2)

"Judge Yang Qing now that you're here, it's about time we tell you why we called for you.."

The casual air from before instantly turned solemn when Long Enlai started speaking.

"Here it comes.." thought Yang Qing as he straightened his back, with a slowly perspiring back as he awaited his sentence.

"As you may have guessed the reason we called you here has most to do with what happened to those from the Deer Mountain Branch. I don't know if Ren Shu informed you on this, but the deliberation of the matter fell on us as it involves the death of a member of the Order.

Before all this happened, you had sent a report requesting for a branch to be built in the territory of the Spiritual Temperance Sect, right?"

"Yes, I did.." answered Yang Qing.

"Reasons?" 

"It was because a member of the Dark Helminth Ghost Sect managed to sneak in and attack me during the evaluations. 

The only reason the attack failed was because of an anomaly, meaning me. Someone in the core formation realm should have been the one to handle those evaluations, but I happened to be the one to do them, which was something they had not prepared for.

Such a level of preparation could only mean they had a base close by right in the territory of the Spiritual Temperance Sect, by my guess and they had been there for quite some time.

Considering the ascetic nature of the Spiritual Temperance Sect, and how nonchalant they are about the happenings of their territory, the Dark Helminth Ghost Sect may not be the only one to have a presence there.

That territory has the potential to be a hotbed of heinous organizations because of that neglected oversight and free reign given by the Spiritual Temperance Sect.

As far as I know, the branch in Deer Mountain Kingdom which is the closest, was the one that also handled cases and surveillance of that region.

But the Deer Mountain Kingdom is just as complicated as the territory of the Spiritual Temperance Sect, even more so, since the territory is enormous and the perilous and uninhabited regions are too many to count.

Giving that branch supervision of both the Deer Mountain Range and the territory of the Spiritual Temperance Sect is burdening them too much, it's more prudent for another branch to be built in the Spiritual Temperance Sect's territory and have the two branches support each other, in case of emergencies.."

Yang Qing's voice turned lower once he reached this part. He couldn't help but think that maybe if there was another branch close by, things would not have ended up as they did.

But that was a huge maybe because the Order rarely built their branches within the territories of rank 2 organizations because of how wary those organizations were of the Order infringing on their territories but the other was usually those organizations had a firm grasp of their territories, since their face was tied to it. Dark underworld organizations would show minimal activities because of it, so the Spiritual Temperance Sect was thought to be the same.

It was assumed that even though it was known that the sect had a rather lax and indifferent attitude toward anything outside its sect grounds, surely it was not to the point where infamous organizations like the Dark Helminth Ghost Sect would set up a base within their territory. That attack at the Summerfield Kingdom was a shocker.

"I wonder if they acted.." thought Yang Qing as he thought back to the message he had left with them.

"That's an astute and excellent analysis, Yang Qing.." said Long Enlai with an endearing smile.

"The Deer Mountain Branch is temporarily out of commission with all its members either injured or deceased.

From the report we have received Branch Chief Lai Wen and Chief Inquisitor Hao Da will recover after a month or so but they will still need to remain back for rehabilitation especially where mental demons are concerned, so the earliest they can go back is in two months and that is if they even want to go back.." 

Long Enlai's response elicited sighs from all present.

There was a chance that the survivors of the incident may choose to go another route instead of returning to their prior roles. There have been those over the years after going through an extreme ordeal, who opted to go for safer roles that would not leave them exposed, that was even after they had dealt with the mental demons associated with the incident. 

The Order didn't allow it before when it started when it could not afford to, but over the years, at least in the past four hundred or so years, they changed their stance on the matter. Those who have gone through what Hao Da or even what Lai Lei has gone through could choose to serve the Order in a different capacity and over the years they were those who had taken up the offer for one reason or the other.

"The Deer Mountain Branch can not remain unmanned for that long, so our request for you Judge Yang Qing is this, we need you to head the branch until the branch chief is back or we find a suitable replacement..."

lightsnοvεl.cοm "I knew it.." Yang Qing thought in defeat.

"Why me?" Yang Qing weakly asked still hoping there was a way he could weasel out of this, even if he knew it was already set in stone, he knew it, and they knew it.

"Well because you happen to fit all the criteria for it. The Deer Mountain Branch chief even a temporary one needs to be at the palace realm, and while the role doesn't matter it's preferable to us that whoever fills in that role is either a judge or inquisitor.

With those requirements, only you fit the bill right now because you don't have any pending cases, a newly promoted judge, and your inquisitor team can join you, so we don't have to provide additional manpower or go through the trouble of shifting people over and considering the nature of your jade physique, you would be like a fish in the water there.." answered Long Enlai.

After hearing the well-thought-out explanation, a defeated sigh escaped Yang Qing's lips as he knew, he was truly done. There was no way he could avoid this.

"It won't be all gloom, we know we are putting you there after coming from another storm, but the circumstances dictate it at the moment. So please bear with it. You will also be generously compensated for it and the compensation is specially geared for you.."

Yang Qing who looked like a deflated corpse, instantly perked up.

"I knew it, these old foxes are just like Grandpa."