Chapter 41: Palace realm stage

Yang Qing couldn't help but smile when he saw the man coming over. He hurriedly woke up from his seat. Cheng Yuan turned too to see who the person was. The person had on a light yellow robe that was form-fitting and was rolled back at the sleeves till they reached his elbows. The man had a medium rough-looking beard and hair that was tied up in a round bun with loose strands flowing everywhere. He had light brown eyes that matched his hair. His build was stocky. He looked more like a blacksmith than a chef. What made Cheng Yuan assume he was a chef and not a blacksmith moonlighting as a chef on the side was the clean robes and the crystal-like hands. They stood out against his muscular build.

"Don't stare at his hands too much Cheng Yuan. Even though Jiang Fu never says it, he doesn't like people staring at his hands for long," Cheng Yuan was shocked to hear Yang Qing's voice being transmitted to his head despite the latter not making a sound as he was currently smiling.

"How is he able to do this? I don't think voiceless transmission is something one at the core formation realm can do as far as I can tell master told me it was those at the palace realm who were able to do things like this…Wait could he be? But no it can't be. He is a superior core court judge and as such he should be at that stage. Besides how old is he? He looks to be barely 20 years old. The Order may have talents but even I doubt they'd have a 20-year-old palace realm cultivator. Maybe core formation experts from the Order are of a different breed like how Cao Ying is. The Order has unfathomable means that people at our rank can never fathom," Cheng Yuan internally wondered as he quickly averted his gaze away from the short man's crystal jade-like hands.

In the cultivation realms once one reached the palace stage they would be able to transmit their thoughts using their spiritual sense. Though when they breakthrough to the palace stage it stops being the spiritual sense and becomes the monarch's sense. At that level, their senses can do a lot of things including transmitting their thoughts which is why spirit beasts can communicate with people at the palace stage without the need for voice transmission beads.

"Master Jiang Fu," Yang Qing cheerily said as he went over and exchanged a back pat with the short man. Jiang Fu also reciprocated the pat with the same level of enthusiasm as small chuckles escaped his mouth.

"Young master Yang Qing I told you to stop calling me that. It makes me feel embarrassed being called that by someone a thousand levels more powerful than I am. Where would I put my face if a palace stage expert called a puny core formation expert like myself master." Jiang Fu jokingly said.

"I'll do that when you stop calling me young master making me sound like the scion of some noble family," Yang Qing answered back before both of them broke up laughing shoulder to shoulder. They seemed closer than the friendly relationship a regular customer and a chef would have.

Cheng Yuan's mind was in disarray once he heard Jiang Fu say Yang Qing was a palace stage expert. He almost yelped out the moment he heard, luckily he heard enough self-restraint to hold himself back.

"HOW, HOW HOW HOW HOW...Whhaaaat," Cheng Yuan internally mumbled to himself in fear as he stared at Yang Qing with a terrified gaze. Even as he stared he still found it hard to believe. There was no single aura of an expert flowing out of Yang Qing in fact at the moment it felt like it was being swallowed up by the person named Jiang Fu who had a tempestuous stillness to him like he could erupt at any moment. Though Jiang Fu had withdrawn as much of his pressure as he could, Cheng Yuan still felt his palms sweating and heart racing from being this close to him. As for Yang Qing, he seemed like he wasn't even there. He didn't add or remove anything. He was just a green-haired youth with a slovenly appearance and a happy-go-lucky attitude.

Cheng Yuan had a hard time reconciling one of the stories he had heard about palace stage cultivators and Yang Qing's current look. It was a stark contrast.

In one of the stories recorded by the sect founder, there was a rank 4 kingdom called the Silver sun kingdom that had been under mutiny. Before the mutiny happened the power of the royal family was being encroached upon by the various powerful noble families of the kingdom who had banded together to try and dethrone them and completely devour their resources. There wasn't much power difference between the royal family and the noble families except that the royal family had more core formation experts and resources than the noble families. The noble families produced schemes and plots to wear down those resources and also test the capabilities of the royal family to dig out other hidden trump cards they may have. During all this, the royal family was passive as they did all that they could just to maintain the fragile balance. However, the balance was broken when two of the ancestors of the rebelling noble families had a leap in their cultivation from the peak of core formation realm to half step into the palace stage. It was then that they rallied the rest of the nobles. Even those who were on the fences quickly joined in and charged the royal capital. Within a week all the protection formation and the experts of the capital were destroyed leaving only the royal palace which was the last bastion of the royal family.

Breaking through the royal palace proved more difficult than had been expected. Even after a month of trying they couldn't break through the formation and other protective measures such as the puppets surrounding it. These results drew even more greedy looks from the nobles as they got to see the royal family's true depth and they couldn't wait to swallow this fat sheep. They threw all caution to the wind and pulled out all their trump cards to break the formations around the palace even the two half-step palace ancestors didn't hold back. Two days into their full-blown attack was when a sudden change overtook the palace and its grounds which were a couple of thousand acres. There was a dark cloud overhead which unlike normal clouds had an overbearing and suppressive effect on cultivators and its effects were more pronounced on the two half-step palace realm cultivators. They instantly knew this was a cloud tribulation for someone breaking through to the palace realm. They madly tried to break the formation fearing the worst from happening but alas they didn't have enough time. After half an hour the cloud tribulation had rained down lightning at a particular spot behind the palace grounds. The moment that tribulation disappeared a powerful aura erupted from there as it rapidly spread and covered the whole palace and soon went beyond it and covered the intruding nobles. They were all pressed down by an overbearing pressure. Those weaker in the foundation realm were crushed into meat paste. Those who could barely stand were the two half-step palace ancestors but they didn't look too good.

It was seconds later that they all saw an old man float above the palace wearing white robes with free-flowing silver-like hair that glistened with the sun. This was the trademark look of the royal family, their silver-like hair that had the glare of the sun. It was rumored that they had the bloodline of a silver sun unicorn. A rain of silver flame sword qi was produced behind him which he used to massacre over ten thousand cultivators who had besieged the palace. Whether they were at the core formation realm or at the foundation realm they were all reduced to ashes instantly leaving behind the two half-step palace ancestors. They tried to ignite their potential and use forbidden arts to escape but they were suppressed with a single palm of the silver-haired old man that they couldn't even detonate themselves. They got their cultivation realm crippled and later got tied to the gates of the capital as a warning to others. In a few seconds, the whole rebellion had been put down.

It was only later during a kingdom-wide celebration that people came to know the old man was the fourth ancestor of the kingdom and that he had broken through to the palace stage hence the celebration. Cheng Yuan was surprised when he read that story he even suspected it was a lie when he asked his master if it was true. His master admitted it was because his master, the sect founder of the green fog swamp sect was sworn brothers with one of the princes from that kingdom. He had offered his help to the prince the moment he heard of the rebellion. During the onset and finally its resolution he witnessed it all, especially the attack of the fourth ancestor.

Against a palace stage expert, even a hundred core formation experts couldn't hold a candle. This event came to be known as the silver sun's flame of retribution.

[Author's notes:

Hey, fellow Daoists I was thinking of writing short bios of various characters every few chapters. Enjoy. You can also write down below which character you want to see their bio.

MC Bio

Name: Yang Qing

Age: 24

Cultivation rank: Outer palace stage (Palace realm 1st stage)

Type of core: Purple core

Occupation: Currently a superior core court judge.

Likes: Eating, pulling a fast one on Lei Weiyuan, spending other people's spirit stones, payday, and snuggling at his rattan chair as he admires his pond

Dislikes: Working especially overtime, getting caught by Lei Weiyuan, and being defeated by Kang Huilang in their monthly competitions.]