Jing Yi naturally wasn’t considering to really break off his engagement with Qiu Ling. It had taken long enough for the two of them to get together. How could he arbitrarily put that at risk now?
He was, however, considering his other options. Qiu Ling had offered to teach him how to read and he had seemed pretty hyped up about that. But it would take a lot of time for him to do so. Now, Yue Lin had offered the same thing. If he didn’t consider Qiu Ling’s feelings, then the logical decision would be to only let Yue Lin teach him.
While he didn’t doubt that Qiu Ling would do a wonderful job at it, it just took too much time. That was time that neither of them could use to work on their mission. On the other hand, if Yue Lin taught him, then Qiu Ling could use that time to go and inquire at some other place. And also, if Yue Lin taught him, they might get closer and he could get the chance to find out more from him. Those were two opportunities to find clues. How could he give that up?
So even though he knew that Qiu Ling wouldn’t be happy when he found out, Jing Yi quietly decided that he should take Yue Lin up on his offer. In any case, Qiu Ling could still read the manual to him. That would also be a lot of time they could spend together. Qiu Ling would certainly understand.
Having made up his mind, Jing Yi finally sighed. "I see what you mean, senior martial brother Yue. It is just … I love him. But don’t worry! My engagement won’t affect my responsibilities to the sect. I won’t slack off. And my fiance is very understanding. He will surely support me in learning more." He wanted to bow but with all the things in his arms, it was impossible. Ah, it would have been nice having Qiu Ling with him right now. He could have just put it into his spatial ring and be done with it.
Yue Lin wanted to retort but finally sighed as well. He probably shouldn’t have expected that this would work out after all. Who would give up just like that after already finding a person to spend their life with? If it was him, he also wouldn’t be able to bring himself to do it. "Alright. I see there is no persuading you." He would still take a closer look at that fiance of this boy. He had to make sure that that guy wouldn’t cause trouble in the future! If he wasn’t up to par … Well, maybe he wouldn’t ignore this issue after all.
Thinking about this further, Yue Lin’s expression turned subtle. "Eh, junior martial brother Jing, how about asking your fiance if he wants to become an Alchemist, too? Then the two of you could move in here together and spend more time with each other. And learning together might make things easier." This would also be the perfect opportunity to keep an eye on that guy. Or maybe he could also be roped into helping him? The longer he thought about it, the more Yue Lin felt that he had just had the best idea of his life. Why hadn’t he thought of this before?
Jing Yi smiled. It seemed he had been needlessly paranoid. Senior martial brother Yue really was just worried about him and wanted to make sure that he did well in the alchemy division. Well, it was to be expected. Even though he could seem terrifying at first he was a good guy. If he wasn’t, would he have taken the time to show him around personally out of his busy schedule? He didn’t think so. "I’ll ask him. I’m not sure if he’ll be interested though. He has never mentioned that he would like to become an alchemist. He might be more suited to be a practitioner." Qiu Ling really hadn’t said so and, to be honest, Jing Yi couldn’t imagine that he would give it a try. In any case, it was also better for their mission if he didn’t follow him here.
Yue Lin was happy with that answer though. "Mn. You definitely have to bring him over. If not as a disciple, then at least to let your new senior martial brothers have a look at him, alright? We need to make sure that he is good enough for our new junior martial brother. Alchemists are well-respected. We can’t let somebody take advantage, who isn’t worthy of you!"
Jing Yi smiled wryly. "I guess … you won’t have to worry about that. Senior martial brother Nian challenged him to a duel yesterday."
"Really?" Yue Lin’s eyes sparkled. Maybe even if that guy was trying to distract this junior, he wouldn’t need to worry. Nian Hai might not be Elder Han’s direct disciple but he was at least one of the most well-known official disciples the division of blades currently had. He should be able to defeat some unknown guy.
Jing Yi nodded. "Yes. Those two even agreed to have it in front of the whole sect. I’m a little worried. We just arrived and …"
"Ah, don’t, don’t! We’ll all be there to cheer!" For Nian Hai, that is! Yue Lin smiled and patted Jing Yi’s shoulder as if to reassure him. Then, he raised his brows at the stuff in Jing Yi’s arms. "Oh, right, you should bring this home. I’ll see when the duel is scheduled and prepare everything for our division. It would be such a pity if our martial brothers and sisters couldn’t go and have a look, right?" He patted Jing Yi’s shoulder again and sped off. There was a lot to prepare if he wanted everyone to go to make sure that the duel was witnessed by everyone. Afterward, he’d like to see if that guy would dare to try something!
Jing Yi sighed. How come this senior martial brother was so thrilled about this? If everyone reacted like that, then Qiu Ling would attract a huge crowd. What then? He really felt like this would become a problem in the future.
He knew he couldn’t do anything though. For now, he could only go back and hope that Qiu Ling would try to hold back a little. They really couldn’t make a huge fuss this shortly after arriving.
Thankfully, he had no idea what his fiance was doing at this moment.
