WBICDPH Chapter 80

Chapter 80 — You Resemble the Light of Jade

Lin Jin had a dream.

In the dream, he seemed to be trudging across an endless snowfield filled with the smell of blood. He was exhausted, cold, and in pain—his body hurt, and so did his heart.

He was about to collapse. But just as he was about to fall, something soft and furry caught him.

It was a big puppy.

It looked exactly like his own little Qiuqiu, except dozens of times larger. The small, silly fluffball had turned into a very large, silly fluffball.

Big Qiuqiu caught him in the soft fur of its belly. The creature’s body was warm, and when Lin Jin curled up against it, wrapped in all that fluffy fur, he felt wonderfully comfortable. He couldn’t help snuggling closer, taking a deep breath. He could even smell that familiar scent on it—a strange mix of fire and fresh grass.

But soon, Lin Jin heard a deep voice in the dream.

The voice sounded as though it was suppressing anger.

“Brat, if you keep squirming, I’ll set your hair on fire.”

“?”

Lin Jin jolted. Even in the dream, he immediately froze, not daring to move another inch.

After some time, the bloody smell in his nose faded away. The warm, fluffy dog disappeared as well, and he found himself back in a place that felt familiar—like home.

That long-lost sense of safety made Lin Jin open his eyes.

Perhaps because the effects of Seven-Kill Ghost Darkness had not fully faded yet, his vision was still somewhat blurry. But after a moment, his sight gradually returned, and he could clearly see the wood grain on the ceiling of his small cabin.

Wood grain…?

Had he returned to Yanyu Mountain?

“Awake?”

Just as Lin Jin was feeling confused, he suddenly heard a woman’s unfamiliar voice.

He froze for a moment and turned toward the sound. What he saw was a strange woman.

She looked young, perhaps in her twenties, yet her hair was completely white, like fresh snow. She wore a peach-pink dress. Her appearance wasn’t strikingly beautiful, but she had a gentle, delicate look—like a pool of spring water that made people feel calm the moment they saw her.

She sat beside his bed and spoke gently.

“Let me check your pulse again.”

Lin Jin obediently extended his hand, unable to stop himself from asking,

“Senior… may I ask who you are?”

“Oh, right. This is the first time you’ve seen me.”

The woman smiled.

“My name is Jian Tao. I used to be the Sect Master of Xikan and an elder in medical cultivation, but I’ve already retired. I’m a friend of your master, Liu Xun. You may call me Martial Aunt.”

Jian Tao?

The name sounded familiar.

But since she had barely appeared in the original story, Lin Jin could no longer remember much about her role.

“Originally, both of your masters were here watching over you,” Jian Tao continued while taking his pulse. “But you know their temperaments. They start arguing after two sentences and fighting after four. I was worried they would disturb your rest, so I chased them outside.”

As she spoke, she withdrew her hand.

“There is some lingering demonic energy in your body, and your internal organs suffered shock injuries. Your emotions have also fluctuated greatly recently. You’ll need to rest and recuperate quietly for some time.”

Lin Jin nodded.

Just as he was about to respond, a familiar and oddly comforting noise suddenly erupted from his courtyard.

Jian Tao smiled helplessly.

“They’re arguing again… Shall I call them in?”

Lin Jin answered,

“Thank you, Martial Aunt.”

Jian Tao stood and pushed open the cabin door. Before she could even say anything, the two masters who had been arguing outside rushed in.

“What? Is he awake? Is my dead kid awake yet?!”

Liu Xun’s shrill voice nearly blew the roof off.

Mo Yuzhi immediately snapped back,

“Listen to yourself! What do you mean by ‘dead kid’? He’s already injured like this—can’t you say something auspicious for once?!”

“He’s my disciple! I’ll call him whatever I want! You old fossil—want to settle this in the training arena?”

“You pick fights all the time. Aren’t you embarrassed?”

“Better to lose face than lose dignity!”

“You—”

“Master—!”

Lin Jin dragged out the word weakly.

“Please… stop…”

Hearing him speak, Liu Xun finally gave him a little face. She shot Mo Yuzhi a huge eye-roll, then instantly changed expressions and hooked Jian Tao’s arm warmly as she walked inside.

“Little Tao, how’s our brat doing? Is he badly hurt?”

“Badly hurt? Not life-threatening, but his internal injuries are serious. If he doesn’t recover properly, it could leave lasting problems. I’ll have someone send over some medicinal herbs later and write him a prescription. As long as he rests according to my instructions, he’ll recover.”

With that, Jian Tao patted Liu Xun’s wrist.

“Well then, my work here is done. You two can continue arguing slowly if you want. I’ll head back now. Come visit me for tea when you have time.”

She smiled at Liu Xun, nodded to Mo Yuzhi and Lin Jin, and left.

Once she was gone, Liu Xun’s cheerful expression vanished immediately.

This time, she didn’t look furious like she did with Mo Yuzhi, nor gentle like she had with Jian Tao.

Instead, she stood with her hands on her hips, glaring at Lin Jin on the bed.

“You little brat, you’ve really done it this time. You said you wanted to participate in the year-end examination and promised nothing would happen, so we agreed. And this is how you come back? What is it with you—every time you go down the mountain, you leave upright and come back lying down? Everyone else walks back upright, but you have to be carried back by Xiao Yunkong. Showing off again, weren’t you?”

“Not really.”

Lin Jin smiled helplessly and explained everything to his two masters, simplifying the details.

But as they listened, their expressions grew increasingly strange.

By the end, even Mo Yuzhi’s face had turned serious.

“Well done, San Zongyu. Well done, Xiao Yunkong. You dare play tricks on me?”

Liu Xun began pacing around the room in anger.

Finally, she pointed at Lin Jin.

“You fool—you were tricked!”

“Huh?”

Lin Jin blinked in confusion.

Seeing his innocent, clueless expression made Liu Xun even more irritated.

“Do you know what kind of person Xiao Yunkong is? Do you know his most troublesome divine ability? It’s called Breaking Obstacles. He can ignore almost any negative effect placed on him. His ability can even resist a Heaven-Rank Heart-Shaking Bell—and you think some demonic formation could restrain him? He fooled you!”

Unlike cultivation techniques or spells, divine abilities were more like innate talents. Whether a cultivator obtained one depended entirely on talent and opportunity. Some people possessed many, while others never awakened even a single one in their lifetime.

These abilities were usually kept secret—hidden trump cards.

Since the original novel barely described Xiao Yunkong, Lin Jin truly hadn’t known about this ability.

“Never mind that for now. What makes me even angrier is this—you said you tried to sacrifice your soul to stop the Asura Blood Prison?”

Liu Xun frowned and spoke sternly.

“Brat, do you value your life so little? Old Fish and I only have you as our disciple. If you die, what are we supposed to do? You really don’t give people any peace of mind!”

Hearing this, Xiao Lanqi—who had been lying beside Lin Jin’s pillow—let out a quiet snort.

Yes. Scold him.

Scold him properly!

“At that time, it was my only option,” Lin Jin explained. “Ancient texts say that once the Asura Blood Prison fully forms, every living being within its range will have both body and soul shattered. There would be no escape.”

Liu Xun was not impressed.

“Cut the nonsense. By your own account, the formation wasn’t instant. That means escape was possible. Your first thought should have been to protect yourself—not your ridiculous plan to sacrifice your soul to that stupid Asura Seal. Do you even know what that means? Your soul would be trapped in that thing forever—never able to escape! Honestly, it would be better to have your soul shattered outright.”

“But I had already promised everyone I would solve the problem and get them out safely,” Lin Jin replied. “That’s why I asked Senior Brother and Miss Hua to stay and wait. If I ran away, I would have broken my word.”

That only made Liu Xun more irritated.

“Xiao Yunkong was pretending! If something went wrong, he would have stepped in immediately to save you.”

Lin Jin lowered his gaze slightly.

When he spoke again, his voice was softer, but his tone remained firm.

“But I didn’t know that at the time. All I knew was that if I promised someone something, I must do it. Either we all die together, or I die so everyone else can live. I couldn’t abandon them. I couldn’t run away.”

“…Foolish child.”

Liu Xun wanted to argue more, but seeing Lin Jin like this, she opened her mouth and ultimately said nothing.

Instead, she sighed heavily and tapped his head with her folding fan.

“What happened was beyond anyone’s expectations. It wasn’t your fault. But if something is beyond your ability to solve, your priority should be protecting yourself—not throwing away your life chasing a possibility. You weren’t even certain that sacrificing your soul would stop the formation—it was just a guess, wasn’t it? What if you had failed? Then you wouldn’t have saved anyone, and your soul would be trapped forever. What then? When the sky falls, taller people will hold it up. Loyalty is a good thing—but you still have to measure your own abilities. Risking your life every time—what kind of behavior is that? How many lives do you think you have? Last time it was external injuries, this time internal injuries. Honestly, you…”

“….”

Seeing that Liu Xun had finished playing the strict disciplinarian, Mo Yuzhi quickly stepped in to smooth things over.

“Alright, alright. The boy just woke up, and you’re already lecturing him? That’s enough. Let’s leave so he can rest.”

“Oh, now you’re playing the good guy?” Liu Xun scoffed.

She ignored him and instead took something out of her storage ring, handing it to Lin Jin.

“Xiao Yunkong brought this back for you. At first, I didn’t know what it was, so I had Jiang Lou take a look. Even he couldn’t identify it, though he said it’s a Heaven-Rank artifact. From what you described, this must be the core of the Asura Blood Prison—the Asura Seal. But that red-clad ghost purified all the souls inside it, completely washing away its blood aura. It’s basically been ‘reforged,’ so its nature and abilities have likely changed as well. It belongs to you now. While you’re recovering, you can study it.”

After giving a few more instructions, Liu Xun pushed Mo Yuzhi out of the cabin.

Once they were gone, Lin Jin looked thoughtfully at the cube-shaped object in his hand.

If he remembered correctly, the Asura Seal had originally been wooden, its patterns layered in dried blood so dark they looked black.

But the object he held now was made entirely of clear jade, its patterns shining with brilliant gold.

Was it Zhu Eryao?

Had she purified eighty-one resentful souls by herself, comprehended the Dao at the final moment even in her ghostly form, and refined the terrifying Asura Seal into this radiant, spotless artifact?

Lin Jin’s grip on the jade box tightened slightly.

He closed his eyes and glanced inward at his soul-blood marks.

There were two.

One was a bright cyan mark, representing Qiuqiu.

The other should have been red.

But now it had faded to gray.

Lin Jin slowly opened his eyes again.

Looking at the jade box in his hands, he murmured—half to himself, half to someone who was no longer there.

“Zhu Eryao wasn’t a demoness. Zhu Eryao was a very good girl.”

His thumb traced the slightly raised patterns on the box.

The jade box seemed naturally close to him. Its aura was gentle, accepting his touch—as if inviting him to give it a name and claim it as its master.

“‘Asura’ is too ugly a name. It doesn’t suit you anymore. From today onward, you shall be called…”

The jade surface shimmered softly.

The faint light reflected in Lin Jin’s eyes as he paused briefly before speaking the name.

And two small characters appeared on the corner of the jade box:

Yaoguang.