Chapter Ninety-Six: The Inheritance of the Spiritlight Jade

“Don’t, maybe something came up. Maybe they want to talk about tomorrow’s match.”

“Hey, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine—straight! Hahaha... Only two cards left, White Shadow. Be careful now!”

“Hi, we’re here!! Heehee.”

Just as Zhang Yang was smugly about to lay down his winning hand, the door swung open, and the five of them—Su Su, Xia Dan, Jing Chu, Fan Fan, and Fei Xue—burst in from outside, each clutching a pile of beer and wine. Those five women were truly something else, carrying in so many bottles at once. After setting the bottles and cans down on the sofa mountain, Xia Dan sat down beside Zhang Yang.

“What are you doing, Zhang Yang?”

“What are you making such a fuss about? Can’t you see we’re discussing something important?”

“Discussing something important? Hmph. Then what are you holding those cards for?”

At that moment, Fei Xue stepped forward and asked Zhang Yang with concern, “Zhang Yang, has your injury healed?”

“Heh, heh... thanks to your treatment, Miss Fei Xue.” Hearing her gentle concern, Zhang Yang scratched his head again in embarrassment. Seeing Fei Xue still standing there, he hurriedly put down the cards in his hand, swept the messy clothes on the sofa aside, and beckoned to her. “Come, come, sit here. Don’t stand there. Sit with us and let’s play cards together, hehe.”

“But I don’t know how.”

“No problem, I’ll teach you, hehe. Come on, sit down...”

“What a heartless bastard.” Seeing Zhang Yang’s completely different sleazy grin toward her, Xia Dan hugged her arms in irritation. I’m a girl too, you know. Why is the difference between a spirit and a demon so huge? Honestly, this is just an opposite-sex-over-friendship kind of bastard. Zhang Yang, I’ll remember this, hmmph!

“Tomorrow is the semifinals, so let’s get thoroughly drunk. Where the hell did that brat Xiao Chuan go, and that little masked guy too? Why are they both gone?” Su Su looked around the room, picked up a can of beer, popped the tab, and took a drink.

“Xiao Chuan and the masked contestant went out, Aunt Su Su. Want to play cards too?”

“Sure, White Shadow. Here, take a beer.” She passed it over. “Auntie likes you best, hehe. Such a fair, proper little thing, just like a young lady. Come sit next to Auntie and tell me how we’re playing.”

“Zhang Yang, you brat, have one too. It’s light liquor. If you get drunk and beaten tomorrow, you won’t even know where it hurts. Here, take it!”

“...Thanks! ...Big sis! Can’t you say something auspicious for once? I’m your own little brother, you know!...”

“Hey, Fei Yan, do you want to play with us too? It’s really fun!”

“I’m not playing!”

Fei Yan gave the White Shadow, who was nestled in Su Su’s arms, a sidelong glance and curled her lip, turning away to look outside. What was so fun about cards anyway? And they were laughing so loudly too—disgusting!

Outside, the rain was pouring hard. The sky hung dark and low, as though covered by a giant pot lid. The rocks along the island shore were battered endlessly by the sea, throwing up great sprays of water. Thunder rolled in the distance, mingling with the rain outside. It was truly the perfect weather to stay home and sleep.

No one knew how long Qin Xiaochuan had stood in the rain before he finally shambled into the cave, one step at a time. Lightning flashed again and again outside, lighting the cave in stuttering bursts, making it seem eerie and terrifying.

Master Jinghai was sitting near the entrance, eyes closed in meditation. When she saw Qin Xiaochuan enter, she rose and fixed her gaze on him. He was her first disciple, and also her last. Whether things would turn out well or not now rested on this boy’s decision. I only hope he won’t disappoint me.

“Well? Have you made your choice? Then come along quickly. Time waits for no one!”

“Grandma!” Qin Xiaochuan faced Master Jinghai with a grave, earnest expression. It was rare to see him looking so serious. Rain had soaked him through, and water from his hair streamed down his face in beads, dripping to the ground.

Staring into Master Jinghai’s eyes, Qin Xiaochuan said very seriously, “I can’t do it! I’ve been standing outside thinking the whole time. Since the day I was born, this is the first time I’ve ever used my brain so seriously. I really, truly thought about it long and hard, and in the end, I still can’t do it! Of course I want to become stronger, to have more power! But if achieving that means I have to kill you, then I’d rather not have that kind of strength at all! That’s my final answer. I’ve disappointed you! Heh, looks like I’m not qualified to be your disciple after all! Forget it, I’ll think of another way myself. Worst comes to worst, I’ll start by trying to smash Si Kong Lang’s sunglasses or something! Then after that...”

“Very well. You have passed!”

“What!? Grandma?” Qin Xiaochuan pointed to himself, stunned.

“Come in with me at once. The true trial begins now!”

“Hold on, Grandma. Didn’t you say I couldn’t pass unless I killed you?”

“Heh heh heh.” Looking at Qin Xiaochuan’s astonished face, Master Jinghai smiled with satisfaction. “Do you think I would pass down the ultimate art to someone who could kill his own master just to become stronger? And the naive fool who blurts out that he could never bring himself to do it without thinking at all does not count either. Now do you understand? Heh heh!”

“You old hag, you actually tricked me!”

“Heh heh heh. I merely made that rusty little brain of yours turn over once.”

“Damn it! You’re infuriating me! Forget the trial—bring it on!”

Turning to Qin Xiaochuan, Master Jinghai’s expression suddenly grew solemn. “Don’t forget what you said, boy!”

After leading Qin Xiaochuan to a spacious spot deeper inside the cave, Master Jinghai turned and looked at him. “Are you truly ready?”

As if he had made up his mind, Qin Xiaochuan met Master Jinghai’s eyes and nodded firmly without speaking.

Seeing that he had no objections, Master Jinghai drew a deep breath, brought her hands together, and pressed her palms against one another. Then a white radiance burst forth from within her body, growing brighter and brighter, as though it were the glare of a thousand-watt incandescent bulb. The light from her body bathed the entire cave in brilliance, bright as day.

After a while, the radiance slowly gathered toward the center of her palms, condensing into a scorching sphere held between her hands. Though its glow was not as fierce as before, Qin Xiaochuan standing nearby could feel the devastating power inside it. It’s so hot. The sphere in Grandma’s hands is like a tiny sun. If this thing explodes, not only this cave but the entire island would be in danger of being destroyed. This is unbelievable. What exactly is that thing in Grandma’s hands?

“This is the treasure passed down through generations of our Radiant Light Sect: the Radiant Light Jade! Only the one true orthodox successor of the Radiant Light Sect can inherit it.” Looking at the Radiant Light Jade suspended between her palms, a few beads of sweat had already formed on Master Jinghai’s brow. “With your natural talent, though exceptional, you are still ten years too early to receive it. Within the Radiant Light Jade lies all the spiritual energy of every inheritor of our sect. It is the legacy spirit created by compressing one’s inner energy to the absolute limit. In other words, this Radiant Light Jade in my palm contains the spiritual energy of all twenty-four patriarchs since the founding of our sect, all compressed within it. Including mine, that makes twenty-five in total.

“The pain of inheritance will exceed anything you can imagine, and I don’t know how many days it will last. If things go badly, your body may be crippled, your mind may collapse, and at the very worst, you may truly die. So...” Looking into Qin Xiaochuan’s eyes, Master Jinghai asked one final time, “Are you really ready to accept it?”

“You don’t need to ask me, Grandma. I like trials like this the best! Bring it on!”

“Good! Open your hands and receive it!” Seeing the eager light in Qin Xiaochuan’s eyes, Master Jinghai pushed the Radiant Light Jade in her palms toward him.

The moment Qin Xiaochuan took it, the Radiant Light Jade seemed to possess a will of its own. It slipped through his palms and vanished into his body. He looked at his hands, then at his body, and stared blankly at Master Jinghai. “So this is inheritance? I don’t feel anything at all. This is nothing much. I... ahhhhhhh!”

Just as Qin Xiaochuan was looking at Master Jinghai as if nothing were wrong, a spray of blood suddenly burst from his forehead. For some unknown reason, the veins in his head violently ruptured, and blood splattered against the rock opposite him, staining a broad stretch of the cliff red. Then his whole body began to convulse. Like a man seized by epilepsy, he trembled violently as the power of the Radiant Light Jade erupted within him.

The Radiant Light Jade that had merged into his body now exploded all at once inside Qin Xiaochuan. The spiritual power of twenty-five inheritors had been compressed into that one sphere; its might could truly be called unparalleled. Waves of searing force surged outward from the dantian within Qin Xiaochuan’s body, battering every limb and bone. Then, like a mountain torrent bursting its banks, the heat instantaneously soared to a magma-like intensity and erupted from his dantian. That impact was a hundred, a thousand times stronger than before, and in an instant it coursed through every meridian in Qin Xiaochuan’s body.

Feeling the force of the torrent raging within him, Qin Xiaochuan’s arms, shoulders, chest, dantian, energy sea, and thighs all burst with gouts of blood under the immense pressure of the spiritual power.

His screams filled the entire cave in an instant. Could this be the true power of the Radiant Light Jade? If so, then this agony, like being carved apart by ten thousand knives, was even more unbearable than death. From the inside out, the searing pain kept assaulting Qin Xiaochuan’s nerves, filling him with the desperate impulse to die right now, immediately.