“Seems like she is about to go berserk. She needs to temper her mental strength more otherwise with her state of mind she may never step into the late stages of the core formation realm much less the palace stage.” Yang Qing said as he moved from his podium to where Wen Chang was.

The qi fluctuations around her were only getting rougher and more violent by the second. Protruded veins started appearing all over her body and she soon started bleeding from her eyes, followed by her body with various lacerations appearing all over her body. At this moment her sclera was all white the iris and the pupil couldn’t be seen.

Yang Qing came and stood a few centimeters away from her, with Wen Chang’s qi fluctuations having zero effect on him. Every time they would come within a few inches from him, they would disappear as if they were nonexistent from the start. There was an invisible force around him that kept everything at bay.

He raised his right palm and pointed at Wen Chang’s massive body and silently muttered,

“Green cocoon of Evernight”

A dark green water ball was produced from his palm and soon enveloped Wen Chang erasing her qi fluctuations every time the water ball closed in on her. Very soon she was completely engulfed in a dome of the dark green water ball. Her qi fluctuations had calmed down and the injuries on her body disappeared once she was fully engulfed by the water.

A change soon happened to the water once everything had calmed down. The dark green water ball changed colors into a dark ball. It looked like staring into the dark sky during the night with no stars.

“I hope you survive.” Yang Qing silently muttered to himself as he made his way back to his podium.

Cheng Yuan at this moment had his heart pounding so hard it threatened to burst out of his chest. His knees were buckling and teeth chattering and he was even struggling to take a breath as the air felt too heavy for his lungs to take in. The cause of these drastic reactions from him was that for just a brief moment he had got sucked into a different world as Yang Qing was casting his cultivation spell.

That world was a dark starry night and he was all alone within a vast body of water the size of an ocean before that ocean suddenly transformed into a person. That person's height was too tall for him to see his shoulders and head perfectly. Cheng Yuan was facing the person's back, the more he looked at it the more it looked like Judge Yang Qing. The person suddenly turned causing a massive windstorm with his turn.

Cheng Yuan still didn't manage to get a look at the person's face however, he ended up seeing something that sent shivers down his spine. The person's eyes seemed to be two full moons. The moment that gaze fell on him, everything within him froze solid even his breath. He couldn't move an inch. The person pointed his finger at him and with it came such an enormous pressure that all his veins, his flesh, and then his bones burst open. His vision in there started going dark but before he blacked out he saw the mouth of that person move and say something but he couldn't make out what it was.

The purple veins appearing in his pale hands were proof enough that he didn’t imagine the experience that he had just come out of. He couldn’t believe that the person he thought seemed to be the easiest to get along with in the court had that fearsome power. To Cheng Yuan that brief moment was a hundred times scarier than what Yi Jie put him through earlier.

At this moment Yi Jie and Mao Yunru were looking at each other with puzzled expressions. This seemed out of character for Yang Qing. In all the time they have known him, Yang Qing rarely lets out his cultivation realm pressure. He usually restricts it within himself, even when performing cultivation techniques and spells he has a firm grasp on it and rarely leaks out.

They tried to figure out why he acted out of form, but they still couldn’t come up with any reason. Well, Yi Jie suspected maybe Yang Qing’s mind is still a bit preoccupied with wondering what supervisor Lei Weiyuan has in store for him for his last week. But Yi Jie soon dismissed that thought.

With the stunts Yang Qing has pulled over the years and the punishments he has received, he has long developed a thick skin and a taste for it. Yi Jie had even started suspecting the supervisor and Yang Qing may be in some sort of competition to see who could outdo the other. This seed of thought started growing in Yi Jie’s mind ever since he started noting how the stern cold-faced Lei Weiyuan would show some emotion and playfulness in his eyes every time he caught Yang Qing pulling something. As for Yang Qing with how much trouble he always gets in, he never seems to give up and just keeps thinking of ways to pull one over Lei Weiyuan.

The man in question was already seated and had already put on his lazy carefree smile. He cleared his throat a little to grab the attention of the rest back from their distracting thoughts.

“Sect master Cheng Yuan don’t worry about Wen Chang. She is completely safe in that cocoon, physically that is.” His expression suddenly turned solemn.

“Mentally it’s another issue. I could have knocked her out but that may bring more harm than good. The cocoon will help protect her meridians and regulate her qi flow as for the mental part she will have to depend completely on herself. If she makes it through to the other end of her shock she has a brighter chance ahead on her cultivation path. But if she fails, in the best case she will be herself and retain her sense of self and spiritual awareness. Still, she will never be able to break through to the peak of the core formation realm or palace stage no matter how many resources or bloodline talent you help her activate.

The worst case is she completely loses herself and ends up no more than a beast with some strength. She will turn into a complete feral spirit beast driven solely by her instincts. She will revert to how she was before she awakened albeit now with a core formation strength. You will have to monitor her personally at all times so she doesn’t end up rampaging in the sect since you’re the only core formation expert other than her.

I wish her the best as it would be a shame after all the luck and effort it took for her to reach the level she has.”

Once Sect master Cheng Yuan heard what Yang Qing had said his fear from earlier vanished and he couldn’t help but stare heavily at the black cocoon even though it still gave him palpitations.

“Wen Chang you have to live otherwise all these…..” Cheng Yuan silently thought to himself as he tightly clenched his fists lowering his head to hide his emotions.

Mao Yunru couldn’t help but look at the black cocoon with worry in her eyes. Yi Jie also silently glanced at it but no one could tell what was going on through his thoughts as his facial expression were still the same calm and focused.

“Sect master I think we should continue as for Wen Chang’s matter that we can only wait only she can decide on what happens next.” Yang Qing softly said

“Okay.” A soft crackled response came from the sect master as he raised his head though he now seemed even more haggard than before.

“Good. Well, luckily we have all that we need to make a sufficient judgment based on what both of you have said and shown us. From my analysis, I think that the elder of your sect, Elder Peng Zhen was the master planner of all these. As for how long he has been scheming, who knows could be recent or could be further up from your earlier days when your master was still alive.

He slowly and meticulously sowed discord between you and Wen Chang. With his authority as the vice sect master, it was easy to rope in help from the other elders who had long been dissatisfied with you.

As the vice sect master and being martial siblings for so long, I bet he knows you very well even your schedule. He knew which days you wouldn’t be in the sect treasury vault and conveniently led Wen Chang to the vault that day. The source of the many herbs well, I have a different guess than yours. That is it may very well have been procured by that Elder Dong. There may be more than meets the eye with him. Those beast-tamer sects may very well be in on it too. As a progeny of a radiant emerald cow no matter how thin or variant the bloodline is a tempting offer to any sect much less a sect for beast tamers.

As for their end goal, I can only guess it. Before that, there is something I’d like to confirm with you. Did Elder Peng Zhen know the true grade of your core?”

Cheng Yuan was surprised at the question Yang Qing asked but he soon composed himself and replied,

“I never explicitly told him.” He responded briefly and concisely

“Well, that explains it. Since he may have not known that your grade and Wen Chang’s match, he assumed you had a lower grade core and despite your higher rank in cultivation, a fight with Wen Chang may end up as a bitter fight with the both of you ending up gravely injured. With that result, you’d be easy pickings for him. He could take care of you both or even sell Wen Chang to the beast tamer sects and end up taking over the sect much more easily with minimal effort.

But that plan didn’t go as planned thanks to his misjudgment of your grade, Wen Chang couldn’t get the better of you despite you pretending it was a drawn-out fight, for her sake I presume.

After that plan failed I bet he was the one he suggested to the both of you to settle the feud through the court. Probably under the guise of good for the unity of the sect reason...Right?” Yang Qing quickly threw another question at Cheng Yuan. It wasn’t known whether it was because of the shock that came from Wen Chang’s current situation, he had a rather stoic expression on at the moment. The hypothesis Yang Qing was making didn’t seem to elicit the emotional response that was expected.

“Yes, he was the one who suggested we come to the courts to solve our issue rather than the sect as it would cause a rift between the members of the sect. We both agreed since like me Wen Chang trusts and respects him too. He was the only one in the sect who could get through to both of us.” Cheng Yuan answered in an absent-minded tone.

“Your junior brother is a rather crafty one indeed. The first plan failed so he went with the next best thing, get the both of you out of the sect at the same time and the sure way he could do that was to involve the Order. With the both of you all the way here, he’d have the time to do what he wanted which I suspect is robbing you of the Tupelo tree and the sects treasury. Most likely he will trade them for resources that will help him break through to the core formation realm or use it as a price to get into a much stronger sect than yours. Either way, your sect has likely been emptied. I have to admire his boldness to use the Order in his schemes. I’m very curious about what he planned to do next. Based on what seems to be a meticulous nature he should know the reach of the Order and using it in his scheme would surely put him in our sights. This isn’t something we can easily overlook…ooh well, all these will have to wait until Feng Xin brings all the culprits in, I think he should have reached your sect by now. Truly interesting, truly interesting,” said Yang Qing as he drummed the podium with his index finger as he sunk in contemplation with some faint interest showing on his face.

“By the way sect master Cheng Yuan, one last thing if you’ll indulge me, please. Earlier you said you and Peng Zhen have saved each other’s lives. Is it before or after you were chosen to be the sect master.”

“It’s both.” Cheng Yuan softly answered.

Yang Qing fell into a deeper contemplation after that. As for what he was wondering no one knew.