The duo quickly made their way into the massive hallway of the building, its black tiles matching the structure's color. The hallway was square-shaped, with mysterious, hazy liquid of various colors filling the walls at the front and on both the left and right sides.
The liquid was sometimes misty, sometimes gelatinous, and occasionally free-flowing like a waterfall. The wall on the left was covered by two of these liquids; one was deep blue and the other dark gold, with glowing glyphs moving within them. Above the blue liquid was a blue plaque with the word "Core," and above the dark gold liquid was a dark gold plaque labeled "Palace."
As for the wall at the front, it was entirely covered by a pure white liquid that made the wall seem ethereal, with the word "Spirit" written above it. The right wall, on the other hand, had a black liquid that blended perfectly with the color of the building. If not for the glowing glyphs and the word "Domain" written above it, no one would have noticed there was anything there.
This liquid was a special kind of treasure called Mimicry Chaos Sky Metal. It had a unique ability to morph into different states while still maintaining the formation arrays drawn on it. Its greatest feature was the ability to amplify and stabilize spatial arrays and spatial zones.
The Order used this metal to construct spatial gates throughout the building, with each judge, inquisitor, and other official being assigned a piece of the metal to access these spatial arrays. Each piece of Chaos Sky Metal was unique, meaning only pieces broken off from the same source metal would work on the arrays built into it. This made for the best mode of transportation at the same time the best defense.
The color codes of the liquids represented the courts they were linked to: blue for core courtrooms, dark gold for palace courtrooms, black for domain courtrooms, and white for spirit courts. The colors also helped differentiate judges. They wore robes that matched their court's color: Yang Qing, for example, wore blue robes, while Yi Jie's robes were blue and red. All inquisitors had one-half of their robes in red and the other in the color of the court they were attached to.
They headed toward the blue liquid, which flashed brightly as they were transported to the core court hallways. From there, they made their way to one of the many courtrooms labeled "superior."
As Yang Qing and Yi Jie approached their designated courtroom, they saw the back of a black-robed man standing in front of it, his hands clasped behind his back. He was of medium height, with a slender build and silver hair pulled into a half-bun.
The moment Yang Qing saw him, he froze, trepidation evident on his face as his earlier grin vanished.
"Seems like you managed to make it just in time, Yang Qing," said the black-robed man in an unhurried, calm tone.
To Yang Qing, however, this sounded like the voice of the Grim Reaper. And he wasn't completely sure, but he thought he detected a hint of disappointment in the man's voice.
"Why is Old Demon Lei Weiyuan disappointed I made it on time instead of being agreeable?" Yang Qing wondered before dismissing it as his imagination.
"Ah... Supervisor Lei Weiyuan, it's you! Of course, I'd come in on time. What kind of person do you take me for? I'd give my blood, sweat, tears, and all my qi to repay all the Cultivation Order has done for me."
Yang Qing continued, a tone of exaggerated piousness and fanaticism in his voice. "I, Yang Qing, may not have many qualities, but one of my best qualities is my unbending will and unshakable spirit to see the Order's mission fulfilled, no matter the cost."
Those present knew this was an act. The only times Yang Qing showed unbending will and a tenacious spirit were when he was scheming to slack off and avoid any troublesome situation.
The black-robed man turned, revealing a stern-looking, middle-aged face with a short silver beard and sharp, silver eyes.
He cast a deep gaze at Yang Qing, who was still absorbed in enthusiastically recounting all he had supposedly done for the Order, embellishing some details in the process. He even went on to emphasize how he'd broken through to the palace realm at great personal risk all so he could quickly shoulder the burdens of the courts—conveniently overlooking the fact that he had previously lied about his breakthrough, forcing him to remain a superior core judge for an extra three months.
"You'll be late, Yang Qing, the tenacious," Lei Weiyuan interjected with a straight face, snapping Yang Qing out of his ramblings.
Lei Weiyuan was the supervisor for all superior core court and palace court judges. His role was to monitor the quality of their work and ensure they upheld the Order's integrity. Lei Weiyuan, like others, had high expectations for Yang Qing, but that was before he got to see his true nature.
Yang Qing had entered as a direct-entry judge, a distinction for those with stellar performance and conduct at the Institute. When he got the post he started strong and dedicated, mirroring his display at the Institute, but a few months in, he began scheming to minimize his workload. Some plans succeeded, while others backfired, leading his every action scrutinized from that moment forth.
When he became an inner core judge, it seemed like he'd turned over a new leaf. He was always on time, conducted himself with seriousness, and appeared fully committed to his work. After a few years, he was promoted to the post of a superior core court judge.
This rank was the highest seat that one could get in the core courts. It had high demands for qualification and being a peak stage core formation expert was insufficient for one to be even considered for it. The post had two main qualifications. One of them was for one to receive a high evaluation grading on the quality of their work and the other was their strength.
Usually, it was the latter that made it hard for others to qualify for the post as only those with a gold or purple core could achieve it. Cores varied in color—red, orange, blue, gold, and purple. The color indicated quality, with red being the weakest and purple being the strongest.
Though it isn't set in stone, more often than not, the type of foundation pillars one had in the foundation establishment stage dictated the type of core one formed.
Just like the core formation realm, the foundation establishment realm also had color-graded pillars, that followed the same format as the core formation, except for one small thing, in the foundation establishment realm the weakest color was white. It was so weak that those with white pillars never made it past the middle stages of the foundation establishment realm, hence the reason there is no white grade core in the core formation realm.
Yang Qing ended up with a purple core. This achievement was thanks to both his talent and the Order's careful nurturing. Through centuries of research and experience, the instructors had identified key factors in forming a purple core, one of them being having a diamond body or peerless jade body and the other was reaching the perfect qi completion stage, also known as the 13th stage of qi refinement.
By himself, Yang Qing would never have been able to reach that level without the Order's guidance.
...
Yang Qing quickly snapped out of his thoughts, bowing to the supervisor as he entered the courtroom. Just as he was about to step inside, he heard Lei Weiyuan murmur something softly.
"Blood, sweat, and tears. Interesting…"
Yang Qing quickly turned, catching a small smile on Lei Weiyuan's face as he walked away.
He waited until Lei Weiyuan had disappeared before grabbing Yi Jie by the shoulders, shouting in panic.
"Yi Jie, did you just hear what that old demon said?!"
Yi Jie broke free from his grip and entered the courtroom, leaving the frantic Yang Qing outside. With an innocent look, he said, "I think he said 'blood, sweat, and tears.' Your speech must have really moved him. Good job, Yang Qing."
Yi Jie flashed a thumbs-up with a grin, mirroring the one Yang Qing wore earlier when he dreamed of his soft life revival.
Yang Qing walked into the courtroom with a dead look on his face. Even corpse cultivators looked more lively than he did at that moment.
He drifted to his podium, crafted from 50,000-year-old red dragon wood, with a golden eagle symbol etched onto it. Its surface gleamed with a rich, dark crimson, the color so deep it seemed to drink in the light around it. The golden eagle symbol etched into the podium's front was bold and sharp, catching the light with a gentle sacred gleam that gave it a silent, watchful, almost sentient presence. It stood as a silent sentinel, embodying the weight and authority of his role.
Yang Qing barely noticed the beautiful, fair-skinned lady sitting just below him in similar blue robes. She had purple, cloud-like eyes, her name was Mao Yunru, and she was Yang Qing's judicial assistant and trainee.
Each judge at his level was required to mentor someone for a few months, to eventually take over their role. Mao Yunru would be his replacement when he moved to the palace courts.
"What happened to him? Did he mess with the arrays in the carriage again to try and slow time so he could sleep more?" Mao Yunru asked, glancing curiously at Yang Qing's listless expression.
Yi Jie happily filled her in on the details, making sure to loudly enunciate "blood, sweat, and tears" so Yang Qing could hear. This caused him to shiver. It seemed the birth of "Blood, Sweat, and Tears Yang Qing" was imminent, replacing the slacker he longed and schemed tirelessly to be.