WBICDPH Chapter 41 Part 1

Chapter 41: Even the Best Stumble

Ever since Hua Nanzhi had freeloaded a meal at Lin Jin’s courtyard once, the little girl started wandering over to Lin Jin Courtyard whenever she had nothing better to do.

At first, Lin Jin thought she was carrying out her so-called “supervision plan,” but after a while, he noticed something was off—

Every time she came by, she would always dawdle until mealtime. While waiting, she would “casually” glance toward the small kitchen now and then. Only after Lin Jin finished cooking and set the dishes on the table would she finally wander over to him, put on a show, and say, “I’m heading off now.”

At moments like that, Lin Jin would habitually reply politely, “The food’s already ready—why don’t you stay and eat a bit?”

Then, under his “enthusiastic invitation,” Miss Hua would very reluctantly sit down at the table and noisily polish off two big bowls of rice.

Eventually, Lin Jin understood: the “supervision” was fake—freeloading meals were the real goal.

Knowing that Miss Hua had her pride, he didn’t call her out. Instead, he quietly made an extra portion for her at every meal from then on.

That said, Hua Nanzhi wasn’t free every single day. She was a martial cultivator with her own training to attend to, so she only came to squat in Lin Jin’s courtyard when she had spare time.

And she wasn’t completely freeloading either. Every time she ate to her heart’s content, she would pretend to be casual—or act as if she were being forced—to help Lin Jin with farm work or take care of some other small chores.

With Hua Nanzhi’s help, Lin Jin’s little vegetable patch soon sprouted its first batch of seedlings.

The effect of spiritual energy on vegetables exceeded Lin Jin’s expectations. These mundane crops, nourished by spiritual energy, not only grew faster but also became several times larger in size. They looked fresh and appetizing. On Yanyu Mountain, they had no natural predators—no insects chewing on them, no diseases causing them to wither. It seemed they would be ready for the pot very soon.

As the vegetables in the garden grew taller by the day, Lin Jin’s path in beast-taming also advanced step by step.

After returning from the mortal world, Moyuzi officially began teaching him the fundamentals of beast-taming. When Moyuzi had claimed to be the number one beast tamer of the current age, Lin Jin had thought he was bragging. But after studying under him, Lin Jin realized there was not a shred of exaggeration in those words.

On the surface, beast-taming seemed simpler than martial cultivation or medicine. To outsiders, a beast tamer merely needed to increase their cultivation, subdue increasingly powerful demonic beasts, and then command them to fight on their behalf.

But that was far from the truth.

Beast-taming was not just about raising a few beasts.

For example, Moyuzi could recognize every type of demonic beast, spirit beast, and spirit herb in the world. He remembered all their habits and dietary preferences. Just memorizing this knowledge alone filled three entire notebooks for Lin Jin.

Although Lin Jin was good at theoretical study, he clearly felt that this path didn’t come easily to him. He often couldn’t distinguish between similar spirit herbs and beasts, nor could he remember which little beast liked being patted on the head or which bird needed its wings trimmed.

Moyuzi said it was fine. He told him these were things that came with practice. At the beginning, it was normal to find it dull, but after spending more time with demonic beasts, one would naturally remember.

After all, for a beast tamer, the most important thing was interacting with beasts.

So Moyuzi immediately arranged practical training for Lin Jin. He took him to the back mountains of Nanqian and had him get up close and personal with the beasts.

“For a beast tamer, affinity is the most important thing,” Moyuzi said. “Affinity is something mysterious and intangible—it’s one of the thresholds of this path. It determines whether demonic beasts are willing to get close to you and serve you. Today, I’m showing you one of the most harmless beasts in the world. They’re called Cotton Beasts. They’re gentle by nature and feed on grass. Heh, heh—our beast-taming path used to have no one else, so I took care of these little fellows all by myself. Now that I have you, that’s wonderful. I’ll have you get acquainted with every single one of them.”

Moyuzi walked ahead happily with his hands clasped behind his back. Lin Jin followed him—straight into… a sheep pen.

The Cotton Beasts Moyuzi spoke of looked like lambs to Lin Jin, though rounder than any sheep he had seen before. From a distance, they looked like plump balls of cotton candy, unbelievably cute.

“Cotton Beasts are timid. If they sense the aura of a high-level demonic beast, they’ll get scared. I have a contract with the Taotie Beast, so it’s inconvenient for me to approach. You can go touch them yourself.”

As he spoke, Moyuzi somehow produced a bunch of spirit grass.

“Fur-Transforming Grass. Their favorite food. Take it.”

“Okay.” Holding the spirit grass Moyuzi gave him, Lin Jin happily stepped into the pen.

He considered himself pretty good with small animals. Back in his old neighborhood, he’d been popular with the stray cats and dogs. He figured his affinity shouldn’t be bad. But to his surprise, the moment he stepped into the pen—before he could even get close—the Cotton Beasts all shuddered and suddenly fled like mad to the farthest corner.

“?” The smile Lin Jin had put on froze at the corner of his lips. Uncertain, he turned to glance at Moyuzi.

Moyuzi was clearly just as confused. He blinked his small eyes, then stubbornly waved at Lin Jin, signaling him to move closer and try again.

Lin Jin swallowed and cautiously took another step forward.

The Cotton Beasts huddled in the corner began trembling violently. A few of them even let out pitiful cries before stiffening and collapsing straight onto the ground.

Seeing this, Moyuzi quickly stopped him. He pulled Lin Jin out and scratched his sparse hair.

“Ah… maybe these Cotton Beasts are just in a bad mood today. No matter—let’s go take a look somewhere else!”

But afterward, whether it was docile herbivorous beasts or fierce carnivorous ones, not a single creature was willing to get near Lin Jin. They either ran away or bared their fangs. When Lin Jin tried approaching the famously gentle Wind-Riding Rabbit, he even got bitten hard on the hand.

For a beast tamer, interacting with demonic and spirit beasts was the most important thing of all. Now that Lin Jin couldn’t approach a single beast, the lessons Moyuzi had prepared for him simply couldn’t continue.

As much as he didn’t want to admit it, Lin Jin’s affinity with beasts seemed abysmally low—so low it was outrageous. In other words… he didn’t have even the slightest talent for beast-taming.

There were countless cultivators in the world, but those willing to enter the path of beast-taming were one in ten thousand. No one wanted to toil in the fields like mortals or deal with smelly demonic beasts. But Moyuzi loved these naturally spiritual little creatures.

He had wandered the path of beast-taming for several hundred years. At this point in his life, his only wish was to find a child who truly loved beast-taming and pass on everything he knew, so the lineage would continue.

Now, he had finally found a disciple who satisfied him in every way—except for one fatal flaw: the child seemed to lack even a shred of beast-taming talent.

In all these years, Moyuzi had only taken Lin Jin as a disciple. Disappointment was inevitable.

But what he cared about more was Lin Jin’s feelings.

Sighing inwardly, he raised a hand and patted Lin Jin on the shoulder, comforting him.

“Xiao Jin, it’s okay. This is only the first day. We’ll take it slow—slow is fine. Who knows, maybe tomorrow it’ll be better. Well… I’ll go check how the spirit herbs in the courtyard are growing. If you want to stay a bit longer, you can, just be careful not to get bitten again. If you’re tired, head back early and rest.”

The little old man wiped the sweat from his forehead and casually smeared it on his clothes. He had always been this sloppy.

He waved at Lin Jin and left with his hands behind his back.

He had arrived earlier, full of joy, but left dejected, his back even more hunched than before.

Watching his retreating figure, Lin Jin felt deeply uncomfortable.

Moyuzi treated him extremely well—almost indulgently. He granted nearly every request. Even a biological grandson probably wouldn’t receive such treatment. On the martial cultivation side, Han Ao and Hua Nanzhi were exhausted daily and often picked on by senior disciples. But Lin Jin was the sole seedling of beast-taming, cherished like a treasure in Moyuzi’s hands, never allowed to tire himself.

Before today, Lin Jin had been determined to become an honorable beast tamer to repay his master’s care. But now, his resolve wavered.

It didn’t make sense.

He was good with small animals.

Wasn’t Qiuqiu raised by him into a plump, healthy little thing?

Then why did all the other beasts hate him? Spirit pets like the Wind-Riding Rabbit were supposed to let anyone pet and cuddle them without getting angry. So why was this little creature afraid of him—and desperate enough to bite his hand?

Could it be that he was truly detested by demonic beasts?

Could it be that the Jade-Bearing Sacred Body truly couldn’t cultivate, that this was an unbreakable dead end, and he was destined to become the ultimate slacker, wasting away in the corner of someone else’s story?

…That didn’t sound entirely unacceptable.