Once Yang Qing judged the youth to be calm enough to hold a conversation, he broke the silence.
"My na is Yang Qing, and as I ntioned before, I am a judge, and I am the judge assigned to your case.
What is your na, and where are you from?" Yang Qing said, his voice gentle and calming.
The youth put down the teacup on the table before him. With heaviness in his tone, he said,
"My na is Fan Cai, and I am from the Dancing Eel Creek village, which is nad after the town with the sa na in Jade Creek Kingdom. It’s a place with a kingdom with a lot of creeks," Fan Cai jokingly said as he tried to smile, which wasn’t a complete success as it couldn’t hide the worry and heaviness within.
"How long have you lived there?"
"All my life really. Though I’ve always lived like a stranger there," Fan Cai said with a bitter smile as he moved for his teacup.
Yang Qing didn’t need to ask why. Fan Cai’s dejected and conflicted look along with his bloodline was more than enough to answer why. Soone with the bloodline of a nine hearts deer stood to reason that said person would keep to themselves keeping interactions to a minimum lest soone find out about their bloodline and set their sights on them.
Fan Cai may be a core formation expert, which in so circles was a high enough cultivation base, but it wasn’t enough of a deterrent when it ca to a cultivator’s greed, and his young age wasn’t doing him any favors. His cultivation base and young age showed the bloodline flowing within him was of one of the purest nine hearts deer and he had already awakened four hearts to boot. He was a walking treasure.
If he was in the palace realm then maybe he could walk around without worry but in the core formation realm, he was still at risk.
Though as far as Yang Qing could tell if it wasn’t for the reaction earlier, even he would not have realized that Fan Cai had the bloodline of a nine-heart deer. His eyes inadvertently fell into an amulet necklace Fan Cai had. The amulet was wooden, with a cloud heart pattern.
Yang Qing could feel a subtle fluctuation within it, which he would not have been able to notice if it wasn’t for him finding a familiarity with that energy. It seed to match the energy he released whenever he circulated his art, the universal light resonant art.
It had a similarity to his, albeit it was an inferior version, but the energy was eerily similar, in that it seamlessly blended the energy of different elents naturally together.
Yang Qing could effortlessly pick out the nine elents involved, and an even deeper sense with the yin and yang energies involved which was what gave him a peek into the intricate seal within it. The seal seed to hide the identity of Fan Cai’s bloodline and also had an illusory spell attached to it that fabricated the aura of his age. It played with his vigor and vitality that made him seem older.
So to anyone digging, Fan Cai would outwardly look like a fourteen-year-old boy, but inwardly the vigor and vitality of soone who was at least a hundred years old. With that at least he wouldn’t draw a lot of eyes with his young age and high cultivation base. Most would assu he was just a hundred-year-old core formation expert who wanted to maintain his youthful features. There was no shortage of cultivators like that.
As for why the illusion didn’t work on Yang Qing, the dao of life was his domain. While the illusion was powerful enough to full soone at the early stage of the palace realm and below, it was useless for Yang Qing.
He could sniff the age of sothing without even looking. He might not be a match for those in the late stages of the palace realm combat-wise, but even they would not be able to fool him when it ca to the life dao. His attunent with the force of life was to an absurd degree that it would take the handiwork of a domain expert to fool his eyes and senses.
He could at least infer that the person who put that seal on that amulet, at the very least was not a domain expert seeing as how he could see through the illusion used.
"Sothing has indeed happened," he muttered inwardly as he sighed when he sensed the growing weakness within it. He could sense a life force blended within it that seed to hold the whole thing together, and that force was weakening, albeit slowly, but it was waning nonetheless and that was the reason a bit of Fan Cai’s energy from his bloodline leaked out.
Yang Qing took out the scroll and the jade slip he received from the administration hall, opening the scroll as he placed it on the table.
"It says here that you suspect your mother is being held against her will in Starlight Lake Sect and they may have done sothing to her and also ntions the violation of a deal struck between her and the sect.
The information shared here isn’t much. If you’re up to it, I hope you can shed light on the matter in its entirety. Your mother, her relationship with the Starlight Lake Sect, her agreent with them, and why you believe she is being held against her will by them.." Yang Qing gently said.
"You can take your ti to prepare yourself if you don’t feel ready," Yang Qing added as he saw the mildly trembling hands of Fan Cai.
"No, I am ready. I have already co this far to let fear hold back," Fan Cai said with a determined expression coloring his face.
"My mother’s na is Fan Ha and..." Fan Cai paused.
Yang Qing could tell he seed hesitant, as to what it was, he could already guess.
Fan Cai looked straight at Yang Qing, seemingly coming to a decision.
"My mother is nine hearts deer," he said not blinking, with his eyes firmly trained on Yang Qing so as not to miss his reaction to the news.
"You don’t seem surprised to hear that?" Fan Cai asked in surprise at Yang Qing’s even expression.
"I am not. Earlier I could tell you had the blood of a nine heart deer in you," Yang Qing easily replied.
"How?" Fan Cai apprehensively asked, his hand inadvertently reaching out for the amulet before he stopped himself, looking furtively at Yang Qing in the hopes that he didn’t notice his movents.
"Earlier when you were touching the podium, the color of your hair and eyes changed, displaying four colors. It wasn’t hard to guess your identity from that especially,"
"That doesn’t seem enough. Many cultivators can change the color of their hair and eyes either intentionally or as a side effect of the cultivation art they practice, or maybe a physique or bloodline. Change of color and hair doesn’t necessarily point out to the nine-mark deer. After all, nine heart deers are not known to display those colors. They have a dull gray coat and matching eyes.," Fan Cai said.
From his expression, it didn’t seem like he was saying those words to air his suspicions at the deductions, but rather he seed to co from a defensive place. His look was that of soone unwilling to admit to sothing because he was afraid of the realities and implications of it. And based on how his eyes would secretly dart to his amulet, Yang Qing was willing to bet he knew about the amulet’s condition and its possible cause.
"That is true, but I guess what made certain is because when it cos to nine-hearted deers, I happen to have a slight affinity with them because of certain similarities I share with them," Yang Qing said as he lifted his right hand and rubbed his thumb against his index and middle finger, releasing a radiant light wave that flashed with different radiant colors.
"I can intuitively manipulate nine elents as they do too," Yang Qing casually said as the light being released from his hands split into nine different colors which then morphed into different types of animals.
One light beca a sparrow, another beca a salamander, another beca a tortoise, and another was a wasp, a tiger, a swan, a crow, a whale, and a beetle. They all radiated with the elents they represented. The sparrow produced green gales of winds, the salamander breathed out fire, the tiger roared and golden tallic energy was released from its mouth, while the swan and the crow released solemn white and golden lights respectively. The white was gentle and cool, while the golden one was warm and active.
Lan Cai’s eyes widened in disbelief and they only grew wider when those animals combined and in its place, one animal was ford, a doe, a gray-colored doe with nine colored dots that revolved around it before rging into its body.
"Is this real?" Lan Cai muttered in disbelief when he saw the palm-sized doe prance across the table making its way toward him. It looked so lifelike that if he hadn’t seen it being produced from Yang Qing’s fingertips he would have mistaken it for a real-life doe.
The doe galloped over the table, and flew through the air, prompting Lan Cai to extend his palm forward in a bid to give it a foot hold, however, the doe dodged his hand as it transford into a nine colored light that flew towards him like a shooting star and disappeared into his dallion.
"Now no one should be able to tell your bloodline," Yang Qing said with a casual smile.
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