Qiu Ling stared into the water in a daze. Originally, he had wanted to remain at the spot where he had been and just wait things out. But he had soon realized that that was foolish.

He wasn’t able to return just like that. He didn’t know why. While he had expended quite a bit of strength when stopping that wave, it shouldn’t have been like this. After giving himself some time to heal, he should have woken up again.

But somehow, he was still here. What that meant … He didn’t even want to think about it. Anyway, it wasn’t a good thing.

Thus, he realized that his original plan couldn’t be followed any longer. He might be able to sit in that small hut and wait things out for a few hours or maybe a few days but he definitely wouldn’t be able to do so for an unknown amount of time. No, he wanted to get out of there. He just couldn’t take it anymore. That voice, the familiar sights … He just couldn’t take it.

So in the end, he had fled and very pathetically at that. Just thinking about it, he really wanted to burn it out of his memory. Unfortunately, there was no way to do so. Thus, he could only go forward and try to find a way to get out of this place after all.

Unfortunately, things weren’t going very well. After leaving that stupid hut and escaping that bloody scene, he had somehow made his way over to a place that looked remarkably like the glowing sea of the mortal realm. This was precisely the place where he was currently standing, musing about how ridiculous this whole thing was.

Staring into the water and seeing those lights somewhere down there, Qiu Ling’s brows furrowed. "You’ve got to be kidding me. If this is really my inner self, then shouldn’t there be things that are important to me? I only visited this stupid sea once! What kind of relevance does it have? You could have at least shown me that other sea if it needs to be the mortal realm. At the very least, my beloved was with me at that time!"

He did say his thoughts out loud but naturally, there was no answer. In the end, he could only sigh and rub his forehead. To be honest, he really couldn’t understand it. That hut … While he did not want to remember it, he couldn’t deny that it had some relevance. This thing here though? None at all. He had really just gone there once. Although … He had seen things there that he didn’t want to see. And he had reacted quite pathetically back then as well.

Qiu Ling sighed and sat down at the edge of the water, looking out over the surface. There was no sunlight in this place, only a dull, gray twilight that shrouded everything. It seemed very much as if it was a place without life. His whole inner self looked like this.

He should probably be worried about that. Although … There were probably other things to worry about. Whether it was at this moment or in general.

Qiu Ling picked up a stone from beside him and flicked over the water, pursing his lips. "Really great, being afraid of water as a dragon. I probably shouldn’t be surprised that I’m seeing this here. Honestly, if somebody else knew, how humiliating would that be?" He sighed again, picked up another stone, and once again flicked it over the surface.

Yes, this was something he normally wouldn’t like to think about. He just refused to do so in his usual life. But as it turned out, he wouldn’t be able to outrun his fears forever. Whether it was gathering the ingredients for that Amethyst Lightning pill he had wanted to have refined for Jing Yi or stopping that wave he himself had created when trying to help him … Sooner or later, he would get in a situation where he would be confronted with his greatest fears. It was alright as long as he was alone but … What if somebody saw?

He put the stone down that he had just picked up and instead raised a hand, covering his eyes. He had already had the very same thought when going to the glowing sea back then. But since then, nothing had changed. Nothing would ever change if things went on like this.

Ah, he would give a lot not to be like this. But what could he do? He … had no way to change his circumstances. He had no way to get over this. He could only try to find other ways to cope and get around it.

It was just that now that it had happened with Jing Yi around, it really was difficult to handle. Jing He would remember. When he woke up, he would remember. So if he somehow found out about this as well … He would have a lot to explain. And those were questions that he couldn’t explain, weren’t they? So what did that entail?

Once again, he sighed to himself before finally getting up. Sitting there and just staring at the surface of the sea wouldn’t help him at all. He had to continue on. Maybe somewhere in this inner self of his, he would be able to find a clue as to how to escape. As for everything else … he could think about that later on. Right now, it was only important to escape from here.

"Escaping from myself … That sure is pathetic." He shook his head at himself and then took off the ground, flying over the sea. He didn’t know what would be on the other side but since he had come from the opposite direction, just continuing forward seemed like the best idea to him.

Who knew? Maybe somebody as foolish as he would actually have a fool’s luck for once and just chance upon an opportunity to leave this place. He could certainly only hope for that.