WBICDPH Chapter 9 Part 1

Chapter 9: Blue Flames Cast Shadows

The blue-green flames blocked the demonic beasts at the cave entrance—beasts whose eyes were bloodshot, who no longer knew fear or pain—burning them one by one into drifting ash, which then condensed into gray beads that rained down into the cave.

Inside, it looked as though a torrential downpour of demon cores had fallen. Lin Jin clutched a small wooden basin, utterly overwhelmed.

He raised the basin over his head to keep from getting hit. Before long, the demon cores clattered into it, filling it to the brim. He hurriedly found an empty spot nearby, dumped them into a neat pile, then rushed back to catch another basinful.

Soon, small mountains of demon cores had formed inside the cave. At this exact moment, every living thing present was thoroughly baffled—including the demonic beasts scrambling to throw themselves into the flames to die, Lin Jin frantically collecting loot with a basin, and Xiao Lanqi in the corner, forcing down the metallic taste of blood in his throat to keep the inferno going.

He had originally set up this formation merely to block outside surveillance so he could consume the cauldron and heal in peace. Who could have known that this damned human would be such a magnet for disaster, actually drawing so much trash to lay siege to the cave?

The strongest demonic beasts in the trial realm were only third-tier at most—normally nothing more than low-level ants. Xiao Lanqi wouldn’t have spared them a glance, but there were simply too many. With his cultivation still unrecovered, he was forced to push himself and forcibly activate the Collapsing Cloud Azure Flame.

Though he had recovered somewhat earlier by borrowing Lin Jin’s blood, this level of overexertion was still too much. Even so, Xiao Lanqi knew he could not retreat.

The human in the cave was useless. Forget third-tier—bring in the weakest first-tier beast and it would still torment him until he screamed and died. Xiao Lanqi would never allow anyone else to lay a finger on his prey—least of all a bunch of low-grade garbage.

For a moment, he truly couldn’t tell whether Lin Jin was genuinely stupid or carefully plotting something.

Had he already seen through Xiao Lanqi’s identity and intentions, deliberately played along, then staged all this to kill with a borrowed blade and rake in trial points with zero effort?

If Lin Jin truly had such scheming intentions, then this was Xiao Lanqi’s misfortune—and he would make this audacious human regret being born.

But if Lin Jin really was just stupid, and everything so far was nothing but a chain of idiotic coincidences…

Then being dragged into such a miserable state by a useless fool was even more unforgivable.

A flicker of light passed through Xiao Lanqi’s eyes. The next instant, the flames at the cave entrance—already weakening—suddenly surged again.

The blue-green wall of fire lashed out like a living beast, claws bared, launching an aggressive counterattack. With irresistible force, it swallowed the demonic beasts outside one by one. Wrapped in flame, the beasts let out shrill, agonized screams. Lin Jin heard the sickening crackle of flesh burning.

All of it happened in the blink of an eye. The cave entrance, once completely choked with beasts, quickly emptied, leaving only gray beads scattered across the sandy ground.

Lin Jin swallowed hard.

He stood there holding the small wooden basin, looking outside the cave, then back at Qiuqiu, who still sat primly off to the side.

He recognized those green ghostly flames. He had seen Qiuqiu’s father use them that night—nearly burned him to ash, too.

So… that utterly satisfying monster-grinding clear just now was all Qiuqiu’s doing?

Lin Jin turned again to look at the piles of demon cores stacked like hills inside the cave.

He never imagined that one day he’d be living off a puppy.

Even so, despite how things had turned out, Lin Jin hadn’t forgotten his original intention.

He tossed aside the wooden basin, tore a strip of cloth from the hem of his clothes, and roughly tied up the wound on his leg. Limping, he made his way to the cave entrance.

Outside was a complete mess. The ground was charred black from the flames. Even though the beasts had been burned away entirely, bits of blood-stained limbs and clumps of fur still littered the ground—enough to make one’s scalp crawl.

Pinching his nose, Lin Jin sifted through the remains. In the end, he actually managed to find a small bird whose body was mostly intact.

Grabbing it by the wing, he slowly shuffled back to Qiuqiu.

Qiuqiu sat upright with his eyes closed, resting. Lin Jin carefully placed the dead bird in front of him and whispered,

“Tired, kid? You worked hard. Eat a little, yeah?”

Qiuqiu kept his eyes closed and ignored him.

Lin Jin squatted down and gently rubbed the fluffy fur on top of the puppy’s head with his fingertip.

“You haven’t eaten in almost three days. Aren’t you hungry?”

Qiuqiu let out a faint scoff.

If you hadn’t caused me trouble, I’d already have food in my mouth by now.

Lin Jin, of course, couldn’t hear him. He continued his self-reflection aloud:

“Sorry about that. I didn’t mean to cause such a huge scene. I saw you hadn’t eaten for days, and when I broke you some flatbread, you ignored it, so I thought I’d go catch a little sparrow for you. Who knew those two sunflower seeds were so powerful? They dragged in all these weird creatures. Thanks for breathing fire and saving me. Otherwise, I’d probably be dust by now.”

No need to thank me. If you’d fallen into my hands, you’d still have no dust left.

But…

Xiao Lanqi slowly opened his eyes.

Lin Jin was still waving the dead bird back and forth in front of him. Xiao Lanqi caught a familiar scent of blood and glanced up, just in time to spot a thin cut on the inside of Lin Jin’s thumb.

What kind of nut could summon every demonic beast in the realm? Even the immortal fruits grown by the Supreme Elder himself couldn’t manage that.

Only someone like you—a naturally born cauldron, the Jade-Bearing Sacred Body raised on countless immortal herbs and elixirs—could drive thousands of beasts into a frenzied, moth-to-flame madness.

This idiot really didn’t look smart. It seemed today’s events truly were just a coincidence. Xiao Lanqi had thought Lin Jin went out to kill time or hunt beasts for trial points, never that he was looking for food for him.

Truly stupid.

Watching Lin Jin’s hand sway back and forth, breathing in that tantalizing scent of blood, Xiao Lanqi couldn’t help licking the edge of his teeth.

His gaze locked onto the human’s pale wrist. He was just about to seize the moment and bite down when Lin Jin pulled his hand back first.

“…”

Xiao Lanqi shut his eyes in irritation.