The mood was a little somber in the court after that outburst from the sect master of the green fog swamp sect. This was the reason why despite Yang Qing’s goofy and lazy nature, in every case he handles he does it with the complete attention and commitment it deserves. Some cases may seem light but are in fact laden with heavy consequences for the parties involved. ｂ𝚍ｏｖ𝚕．𝚝

The case between the Sect Master Cheng Yuan and the emerald leaf cow may have seemed simple and direct. A food dispute between a man and his cow. But it was anything but that.

If handled incorrectly it may very well lead to the eventual demise and destruction of the Green fog swamp sect. This would end up making Sect Master Cheng Yuan the greatest sinner of all in his sect, for leading the sect to destruction and ruin. Destroying all the work and sacrifice of the previous sect master, the sect patriarch, and countless other unsung heroes who ended up buried beneath the marsh in the hopes of transforming the sect into what it was today.

What started as a single sap of a tree and a foundation-level vagrant cultivator in hiding with time grew into rank 4 sect with 2 core formation stage members, over 50 foundation stage members, and hundreds of cultivators in the qi and body refining stage.

This was no easy feat to accomplish especially in a place filled to the brim with poison and also the fact the southern continent was fraught with wars didn’t make it easy for something that started from a single person and a seed to grow into a sect with close to a thousand members. But all these may be taken away due to the debts and the infighting in the sect.

If all these just from the brief overview were evident to Yang Qing and the rest what about the sect master who was in the thick of it?

Ever since he was a young kid all he knew was the green fog swamp sect and his dream growing up was to be its sect master and help it rise to even greater heights. He did become the sect master and in his tenure, as the sect master, he helped in improving the various standards of the sect especially when it came to the treatment of the young disciples in the sect.

However, here he was about to lose the sect because of being unable to pay his debts as opposed to the usual sect destruction via sect fights. To top it all off he almost got beat by a cow that put him into this mess. Anyone in his position would have coughed up gallons of blood. His throat control was to be admired and commended.

“Thanks, Sect Master Cheng Yuan for your apt description of your version of events. Now we will proceed to you Wen Chang to explain your side of things. I hope you have already familiarized yourself with the voice transmission ball. But I suppose you shouldn’t have any trouble with it as I assume you’ve been using something similar in the green fog swamp sect to communicate with the rest of the sect members.

The moment is now yours.” Yang Qing threw a polite nod for Wen Chang to start.

“My name is Emer…sorry I mean Wen Chang. I’m an emerald-leaf cow. Wow!!! my voice seems smoother than the transmission beads I use at the sect. They always make my voice seem cracklier like it came from a dried-up parched throat. I wish I could get one of this. Hey Cheng Yuan do you think you can get one for me to use at the sect.” Wen Chang quickly lost herself in admiring her voice. Her voice sounded gentle and serene like leaves falling in a gentle autumn wind. It also had a hint of childlike playfulness and naivety to it.

Cheng Yuan was also shocked at the tone of her voice. Normally she sounded like bullfrogs and crickets had camped in her throat during the driest weather.

“Is this really Cheng Yuan’s voice? Will she sound like this if she breaks through to the palace and is able to perform human transformation or is it the transmission ball’s doing?” He silently muttered to himself in wonder.

He completely ignored her request of buying the transmission ball for her. They were already in debt thanks to her stomach which he long suspected had storage expansion arrays inscribed on them. Plus even if they weren’t in debt he doubted he could afford even the garbage in the cultivation courtrooms.

“Miss Wen Chang can you continue please.” Mao Yunru’s sublime voice sounded, breaking Wen Chang and Cheng Yuan from their thoughts. Her voice seemed to have the effect of immediately calming them down even against their own excited states.

This brought a shock to both the Emerald leaf cow and Sect Master Cheng Yuan. They were both at the core formation realm and their mental defenses were a bit tougher against mental persuasions. However, their defenses seem to be nonexistent the moment Mao Yunru spoke, and from the look of things she didn’t seem to have used any cultivation technique at all, it seemed to be her normal voice.

“Is this the power of the Cultivation Order Society” they both wondered silently with trepidation creeping up on them.

Just a young lady who seemed to be barely 20 could already shake them this much what about the rest? This must be the reason the Order just seems to be growing stronger and stronger as time progresses.

“Hehehe sorry about that, living in the backwater swamps you don’t experience novel things like this easily. I lost myself a bit” Wen Chang quickly apologized. However, one could detect the faint fear coming from her voice as opposed to her earlier carefree and playful voice.

“Part of what Cheng Yuan said in his earlier statements was true. The use of the young radiant twig Earthwood did help me in my awakening and they did offer constant support to aid me in my cultivation until I broke through to the foundation stage.

What happened after I broke through was as Cheng Yuan said. We did form a partnership agreement at that stage as I was strong enough to use the transmission beads thus communication was easier.

We agreed I’d supply them with a minimum set quantity of emerald milk and they’d continue to support me in my cultivation and the continued strengthening of my bloodline.

At the start, all was going well but at the later stages of the foundation realm the herbs they were giving proved to be less and less effective the stronger I grew to the extent that my cultivation started stagnating.

I informed one of the elder who was in charge of my care ever since I started cultivating of the struggles I was facing. He was kind enough to present my request to the sect. It took a while for the sect to come up with a solution for the problem but they eventually did and acted on it.

At the time I thought it was understandable that they took so long since my requirement in terms of spiritual herbs and spirit stones consumption had grown higher and higher. It wasn’t lost on me the burden I imposed on the sect or the amount I consumed the stronger I grew. But it couldn’t be helped.

I may not know how much it cost but I at least knew it must have been quite the sum considering how much resources I consumed. Thus I patiently waited and even tried producing more milk than agreed upon as my way to try and help the sect.

The sect after close to a year finally came up with some temporary measures with assistance from some of the beast sects the green fog swamp sect was in contact with. The support was enough to only push me to the peak of the foundation realm. Breaking through to the core formation realm I had to rely on myself.

But I didn’t blame the sect I thought they had tried their best. It was only after I broke through to the core formation realm that I came to know the ugly truth.” Wen Chang on reaching this point paused and shot death glares at Sect Master Cheng Yuan who also shot glares of his own back.