Daily life of a cultivation judge

Ellie's appetite and her love for food, which bordered on obsession, were something she had learned from hanging around him since she was a young chick. Cloud-swallowing kites didn't have the voracious appetite she did; in fact, the only voracious thing about them was perhaps their love for heavenly treasures, whose essence they had a way of drawing out into the form of a cloud that they would then consume to strengthen themselves. In a sense, what they did — bar their ability to refine objects into cloud essence — wasn't any less than the desire all other cultivators had for heavenly treasures, be it human or otherwise.

However, Ellie... well, Ellie was a strange one. She was a cloud-swallowing kite in name only. She was only drawn to heavenly treasures that could be enjoyed as a delicacy; if it lacked that quality, then that heavenly treasure might as well be cow dung to her. She would show zero interest in it, completely shaming her entire race. Or, if it wasn't something she could enjoy, she would acquire it for trade, or as a peace offering for when she knew she had screwed Yang Qing over too badly with her thieving and needed something to repair the relationship... or at least long enough for her to steal from him again.

Outside of those parameters, she had no interest in heavenly treasures the way her kind did. Her love for all things good-tasting came from Yang Qing, but the obsession to the point of disregarding everything else in the name of food, that she got from Feng Xin.

Her habits were the farthest thing from that of a cloud swallowing kite. Had her caregivers not been the two most notorious eaters in the entire Order, and quite possibly even the continent, Ellie would have likely turned out different. Maybe she would have ended up acting like a regular cloud-swallowing kite, or maybe she would have adopted respectable qualities mirrored off those who raised her. But alas, she was raised by two voracious eaters who would do or give anything for good food, and so a thieving, voracious eater was born.

That obsessive love for food wasn't something inborn in her but a byproduct of her environment. That wasn't the case, however, for the bulbul perched on Li Gang's forearm, which looked like it was one second away from pecking someone's eyes out if it didn't get what it was so desperately searching for.

That nectar seeker cared for nothing else in its life other than nectar, fruits and anything sweet... not just sweet, it had to be sweet sweet. It would disregard everything else. It was a natural sweet tooth whose obsession ran at the same level as Feng Xin's obsession with food, where everything else came secondary. Hence why that spirit bird couldn't care less that it was a foundation establishment spirit beast currently glaring at countless palace realm experts with open hostility, as though they owed it unpaid dues in nectar.

There was nothing in its mind but nectar, sweet fruits, and things of a similar nature.

Seeing it there, Yang Qing's question of how the Vast Blue were going to handle an impartial draw was already answered. There was no fairer adjudicator than a being that ran on a single factor instinctual obsession.

Just as the nectar seeker looked about ready to peck someone to death from frustration, which Yang Qing strongly sympathized with, Li Gang nodded to his left and right; several staff members started pouring out, each holding a green golden vine that carried a faint summer floral scent. The instant those vines appeared, the bulbul looked just about ready to charge at them, and would have, had Li Gang not used his spiritual pressure to lock it firmly in place. Even immobilized, the nectar seeker didn't seem like it had submitted; its piercing, spirited eyes and whistling chirp echoed throughout the auction house.

Ignoring its theatrics, Li Gang smiled at the crowd. "As you can see, our judge for the day is eager to get this bidding on the road, just as you all likely are," he joked, earning a few laughs from the crowd. The laughter grew when the bulbul's chirps suddenly shifted from spirited and excited to pleading, as it turned to face Li Gang with an imploring look in its eyes.

"I won't keep you waiting long," Li Gang said gently to the bird, which gave a subtle nod before quickly turning its attention back to the vines.

"For all who intend to bid, kindly raise your hand and one of our staff members will hand you a sweet dew vine. Once everyone who wants one has received theirs, I will release the seal on them, and our judge here will choose the winners by flying to and consuming from the vines of those she selects," Li Gang explained. "So for all who wish to participate, kindly raise your hands and our staff members will hand you a sweet dew vine," he repeated.

Hands instantly shot up, their number exceeding the thirty six available Dawn Lotus flowers. By Yang Qing's count, seventy three hands had shot up; luckily, the sweet dew vines were more than enough to meet that number.

Once the last person had received their vine, Li Gang smiled at the crowd. "Let the bid commence," he said, clapping his hands. It seemed to have been the trigger to undo the seal, because the moment he clapped, that faint sweet summer floral scent that had lingered on those vines amplified ten thousand times over; a rich sweetness spread through the auction house as though it had instantly transformed into a sun warmed orchard dense with the scent of ripe fruits and blooming flowers.

And with it, the sweet obsessed, crazed little creature that had been perched on his forearm blitzed from his arm the instant he clapped, charging swiftly at its prey as a melodious chirp that seemed to herald the very arrival of spring echoed throughout the auction house.

The speed with which the nectar seeker flew was enough to evade the senses of some core formation stage experts, even if the bird in question was at a lower realm. It flew so fast that it left afterimages of itself, creating the illusion that it had clones all around.

Twenty three seconds. Twenty three seconds. That was how long it took for that nectar seeker to 'hunt' down all seventy three of her victims. And in the end, even though there was a euphoric glow to her, she didn't seem like she had had her fill; her expectant, gluttonous gaze eyeing the staff members with a look that seemed to say, 'you have more of that vine in your robes, don't you? Bring them out while this bird is still asking nicely.'

Safe to say the threats weren't realized, as one of the peak core formation stage staff members halted the mutiny before it even started by 'arresting' the perpetrator and carrying her out of the auction house to parts unknown... not before the nectar seeker let out a defiant chirp that sounded, for some reason, rather weak as they rounded a dark corner.

"We have our thirty six winners," Li Gang announced once the nectar seeker was out of view. The latter may have flown too fast for an early or middle stage core formation expert to follow, but fast as she was, it was still snail's pace beneath the gaze of a palace realm expert. Even without Li Gang needing to announce them, every palace realm expert present already knew who those thirty six winners were.

But Li Gang, ever the professional, still announced them as the Six Sepal Dawn Lotus was handed over with every name mentioned.