WBICDPH Chapter 6

Chapter 6: Just Getting By

Han Ao slipped away as fast as if he’d greased the soles of his shoes, leaving Lin Jin alone, standing there in the wind, utterly bewildered.

The guy even kept looking back while running, as if Lin Jin were some flesh-eating monster or natural disaster.

“I’ll have to decline.”

Why did that sound kind of familiar? Was he imagining things?

And wasn’t Han Ao supposed to be a domineering, cool, overpowered male-lead Dragon-Ao-Tian type? Why had he just looked… clear-headedly stupid? So down-to-earth? Wasn’t that totally out of character?

Lin Jin felt that the way things were developing was subtly off. His “golden thigh” didn’t match his expectations at all, but for the moment, he couldn’t figure out exactly where things had gone wrong.

Just as Lin Jin stood there in a daze, he suddenly sensed a faint disturbance in the airflow behind him. In the next instant, a hard object came flying from above his head and smacked squarely into his head.

“Ow!”

Lin Jin clutched the back of his aching head. Before he could even turn around to see who had thrown a rock at him, a flash of cold light cut across his peripheral vision.

Up ahead, the fleeing Han Ao was suddenly stopped in his tracks by a massive blade.

With a sharp clang, a nine-ringed broadsword slammed diagonally into the ground, forcing him to halt. A streak of red followed immediately after. A red-clad少女 with twin spiral buns lightly tapped down on the sword’s hilt, balancing there on the tips of her toes.

She brushed the dust off her hands, crossed her arms, and let the hem of her clothes flutter in the breeze.

Chin lifted, she glanced distantly at Lin Jin before casting a condescending look at Han Ao. When she spoke, her tone was unbearably arrogant:

“Looks like everyone’s here now. I heard that, including me, there are only two cultivators at Foundation Establishment or above this year. I don’t care where this extra person came from, and I don’t care who you are or what your status is. In the trial realm, life and death don’t matter. We don’t interfere with each other—everyone relies on their own abilities. From where I’m standing now as the boundary, all demonic beasts to the south belong to me. Keep your hands to yourselves. If anyone crosses into my territory to steal my prey, I won’t mind killing you along with the beasts.”

Her voice was crisp and clear. After dropping that threat, she leapt down from the blade. Just the faint blade aura stirred up as she withdrew it was almost enough to knock Lin Jin flat.

Lin Jin staggered half a step before regaining his balance. He watched as the red figure shot southward like a meteor and disappeared, then turned his gaze back to Han Ao, not far away.

Han Ao clearly looked stunned as well. He stared in the direction Hua Nanzhi had left, then turned back toward Lin Jin, who looked like he wanted to say something. Suddenly, Han Ao reacted violently, yanking his crude iron sword from his back and pointing the tip straight at Lin Jin’s face.

Lin Jin jumped in fright. Then he heard Han Ao force out a threatening line:

“Don’t come any closer!”

And the reason it was obviously “forced”—the hand holding the sword, along with the sword tip itself, was shaking.

Brother, you’re the male lead Dragon-Ao-Tian! Why are you shaking?!

Lin Jin suddenly felt the kind of frustration you get when the real product doesn’t match the description. Meanwhile, Han Ao, despite clearly avoiding eye contact, still cleared his throat and threatened him in a low, vicious tone:

“Did you hear me? In the trial realm, life and death don’t matter. Since the south belongs to her, the east is mine. The West has thin spiritual energy, so there probably aren’t many demonic beasts there. I’ll give you the north and the west together.”

After that, he even added fiercely:

“If you’ve got nothing to do, don’t come onto my turf and get in my way! Or I’ll make sure you regret it!”

“?”

So, because the West has fewer resources, you’re giving me both the West and the North? Aren’t we supposed to be competitors? You’re… kind of nice, actually.

Lin Jin’s feelings were complicated. He raised a hand toward Han Ao, trying to stop him and pitch his perfectly reasonable cooperation plan. But Han Ao didn’t acknowledge him at all. He slung the iron sword onto his back and bolted before Lin Jin could even finish speaking.

Lin Jin couldn’t just watch his golden thigh run away. He shouted, “Wait!” and took off after him. But Han Ao nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard Lin Jin’s voice. He looked back while running, saw Lin Jin chasing him, and immediately slapped a speed talisman onto himself. In an instant, he was moving like the wind.

“???”

Didn’t you just threaten me? Come on, make me “regret it”! Why are you running? You’re even using a speed talisman?!

Lin Jin was completely collapsing. Even worse, Han Ao’s shoes practically started smoking from how fast he was running, and Lin Jin couldn’t keep up at all. After just a few steps, he was already panting heavily.

Seriously—why is hugging a thigh this hard?

Watching Han Ao shrink farther and farther away until he became a black dot and vanished from sight, Lin Jin finally gave up, all strength leaving his body. He flopped onto the ground, limp as a dead fish.

No. This really won’t work.

What kind of trash body is this? I didn’t even run a hundred meters and I’m already this exhausted?

Lying in the wild grass, Lin Jin grew more and more resentful the longer he thought about it.

A useless body, a thigh that runs too fast, enemies about to show up at any moment—what’s even the point of living like this? Might as well die!!

Lin Jin writhed on the ground like a worm, going through a full sequence of gloomy crawling, twisted flailing, and silent screaming, before finally lying flat like a piece of roasted meat with no dreams, staring despairingly at the sky.

The sky of the trial realm wasn’t the clear blue of the outside world, but a dull gray. There was no sun visible, yet it somehow felt painfully bright.

Lin Jin squinted, about to roll over to avoid the glare, when a small shadow fell across his face.

He paused and looked up, only to see a fuzzy little dog’s head.

Qiuqiu looked down at Lin Jin with those green eyes of his.

Then he lifted a front paw, patted Lin Jin on the shoulder, and tilted his chin toward a certain direction.

Watching his movements, Lin Jin suddenly understood.

“You want me to follow you?”

Qiuqiu ignored him and simply trotted off on his own.

When Lin Jin had claimed to be a beast tamer, he’d really just wanted to give Qiuqiu a legitimate excuse to stay by his side. As for relying on him to cultivate or fight monsters—he honestly hadn’t thought about that at all. He hadn’t had much faith in a little mutt to begin with.

But now, it seemed like he really could rely on this puppy just a little.

A warm, paternal sense of comfort welled up in Lin Jin’s chest. The little dog, barely as tall as his ankle, suddenly looked tall and dependable in his eyes.

Qiuqiu led Lin Jin through the forest and onward.

Lin Jin had terrible directional sense, and there was no sun in the trial realm, so he had no idea which direction they were going. He only felt that the farther they walked, the more desolate it became. Forget demonic beasts for points—after walking for ages, he hadn’t seen a single living creature.

But what fault did Qiuqiu have? He was just a poor, weak, helpless little mutt.

Eventually, Qiuqiu led Lin Jin to a dilapidated mountain cave.

Along the way, Lin Jin had at least heard a few distant roars of demonic beasts. Now there was nothing—no beasts, no sounds, just the wind sweeping across the ground. After leading him there, Qiuqiu did not explain. He simply went into the cave, flopped down on the ground, and closed his eyes to rest.

Lin Jin hadn’t expected the little mutt to help him slaughter his way through the trial realm anyway. The fact that Qiuqiu had found him a place to shelter was already impressive enough. The trial would last a full three days—there was no way he could just sleep out in the open the whole time, worrying about getting dragged off and eaten by a demonic beast in the middle of the night. Finding a hiding place like this was already a huge relief.

It seemed unrealistic now to rely on the protagonist to carry him into Yanyu Mountain. Better to cling to the little dog’s thigh for now, survive these three days, and make plans after leaving the mountain in one piece.

Lin Jin put his hands on his hips and sighed. He gathered some weeds and made two simple beds in the cave—one for himself and one for Qiuqiu. Then he lay down, stretched comfortably, and prepared to enjoy a good sleep.

When you reach the bridge, the boat will straighten itself. If you can lie low for a while, then lie low!

On the other end of the cave, Xiao Lanqi disdainfully brushed aside the weeds in the corner, but still reluctantly lay down.

He lifted his eyes and glanced at the human lying nearby.

Truly strange. This human had fought his way into the Yanyu Mountain inner-sect trial, yet after entering the realm, he was calmly taking a nap.

Did he have some hidden backup plan? Judging by that foolish look, it didn’t seem likely.

Still, the human’s mindset was impressive. Even in an unfamiliar and dangerous environment, he wasn’t afraid. He’d only just lain down, and his breathing had already evened out—clearly asleep.

Xiao Lanqi gave a soft snort.

Why sleep so long while alive? After death, you’ll sleep forever.

Whatever. This fool wasn’t far from death anyway.

This trial realm was anything but simple. Hidden Dao-pattern formations were everywhere, and any disturbance would likely be recorded by the monitoring spirit stones and projected outside the realm.

Yanyu Mountain had no shortage of experts. In the past, Xiao Lanqi wouldn’t have cared about them at all, but in his current state, he had to be cautious.

At the very least, devouring a furnace within the trial realm couldn’t be done too openly.

Fortunately, the spiritual energy in this realm was unevenly distributed, with the west being the weakest. This cave was also extremely well hidden. With a bit of time, setting up a formation to block those long-nosed fools’ prying eyes wouldn’t be difficult. At least until he finished consuming this furnace and restored his cultivation, he wouldn’t be discovered.

In the dim cave, a speck of blue-green flame suddenly appeared, then vanished into the darkness. The spiritual fluctuation it caused was nearly imperceptible.

A faint breeze stirred the dust on the ground, carving lines of demonic patterns into the cave walls at an extremely slow pace.

Green-Eyed Dog… mutt…

To dare insult this venerable one like that—you deserve to die a thousand times over.

To have your flesh and blood offered to restore my cultivation is the greatest honor of your miserable life. Ignorant, lowly human—once this formation is complete, your death will arrive.