WBICDPH Chapter 5 Part 2

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Foolish! Short-sighted! Blind idiots with grease clogging their brains! Ignorant humans—all of you!!!

How on earth was this venerable one in any way similar to those lowly dogs?!

Xiao Lanqi was furious. He bit down hard on Lin Jin’s hand.

This venerable one’s noble head—how dare you commoners touch it?!

Lin Jin was inexplicably bitten again by the vicious little dog. He wiped the wound, didn’t bother arguing with the mutt, and raised his hand again, pressing his palm against the cold, rough surface of the giant stone.

After coming to this world, Lin Jin realized that spiritual power was nothing like the hollow, abstract concept described in novels.

Standing between heaven and earth, he could actually feel spiritual energy existing in all things, like a special form of resonance—swift like wind, scorching like fire, clear and cold like ice. Sometimes it was thin, sometimes dense.

Guiding the flow of spiritual energy took only a single thought. He raised his right hand, gathered the spiritual current in his body into his palm, and slowly transferred it into the stone, feeling it gradually warm from icy cold.

The patch of skin on the inside of his right arm, engraved with runes, grew hotter and hotter. Lin Jin closed his eyes. At the same time, the warmth transmitted by the runes nourished the spiritual energy within him.

The sensation was so wondrous that Lin Jin lost himself in it for a moment—until his consciousness grew dizzy and he heard a slightly blurred announcement by his ear:

“Lin Jin, early Foundation Establishment! Entering the Profound Realm, first tier!”

Lin Jin jerked his hand back as if shocked by electricity and snapped his eyes open. He was no longer beside the giant stone on the training grounds.

The heat on the inside of his forearm gradually faded. Lin Jin looked thoughtfully at his palm.

Most likely, the runes left behind by the Fallen God had suppressed his cultivation. In any case, this stage was over—there was no need to dwell on it further.

Lin Jin let out a sigh of relief, lowered his hand, and looked around.

He was probably already inside the trial realm. The place looked like a barren mountain, surrounded by dense forest, with nothing particularly remarkable.

Having stood all morning, Lin Jin felt tired. He casually found a rock to sit on and took Qiuqiu out of his robes so the little guy could get some air.

So… the trial had already begun? What was he supposed to do now? Kill demonic beasts for points? Without a “golden thigh” to cling to, how was he supposed to kill anything—by banging his head against it?

Wait. Where was his golden thigh?

At that thought, Lin Jin’s heart suddenly sank, and his whole body stiffened.

Because he suddenly remembered something absolutely terrifying—

Hadn’t he stolen the male lead’s opportunity last night?

Yes. Han Ao was supposed to meet the Fallen God last night, receive the inheritance, jump from the third level of Qi Refinement straight to mid-Foundation Establishment, and then slap everyone in the face. But the opportunity had been taken by him instead. That meant Han Ao’s cultivation should still be at the third level of Qi Refinement, right?

Then the onlookers wouldn’t get slapped in the face, this plot wouldn’t be satisfying at all, and worse… entering the trial realm at the third level of Qi Refinement—could Han Ao even survive and make it into the inner sect?

Lin Jin anxiously chewed on his finger. Just as he was worrying whether the fate of a generation’s protagonist would be altered by a nobody like himself, the scene before his eyes suddenly rippled. In the next instant, a figure appeared out of thin air within the realm, accompanied by a gentle glow.

The youth was of average height, slightly thin, with an ordinary face that wasn’t easy to remember. But his eyes were bright, like resilient grass standing firm in the wind.

This was…

The male lead!

A ray of light shone into Lin Jin’s darkened world, and along with it came an announcement:

“Han Ao, mid–Foundation Establishment! Entering the Profound Realm, first tier!”

Huh?

Hearing this, Lin Jin froze.

Hadn’t the plot changed? Hadn’t he stolen Han Ao’s opportunity?

The runes on the inside of his forearm still carried a faint warmth. Lin Jin felt that something was off, but he didn’t think too deeply about it and simply felt relieved that he hadn’t altered the storyline.

He saw Han Ao close his eyes briefly, as if enduring the dizziness of entering the realm.

Lin Jin sat on the rock beside him, staring with eyes full of anticipation. Perhaps his gaze was too intense, because Han Ao quickly noticed him and frowned slightly.

Han Ao looked him over from head to toe, then from toe to head. Under that scorching gaze, Lin Jin’s thoughts spiraled wildly.

Why was the male lead staring at him?

Was he an eyesore?

That was possible. In the original plot, only the male lead and Hua Nanzhi reached Foundation Establishment among this group of disciples. Now he had popped up out of nowhere—was he stealing the male lead’s spotlight?

What kind of ending did someone get for making a Dragon-Ao-Tian protagonist unhappy?

Alarms blared in Lin Jin’s mind. He looked at Han Ao with wide, hopeful eyes, cleared his throat twice, stood up, and awkwardly tried to strike up a conversation:

“Daoist, you—”

But Han Ao avoided his gaze.

Not only that—when Lin Jin spoke, Han Ao silently raised a hand to block his own face, instantly sidestepped a full step away to put distance between them, and left behind only a single sentence that almost dissolved into the wind:

“I’ll have to decline.”

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