Jing Yi bedded his head next to Qiu Ling again and just stared blankly. What could have happened? Had Qiu Ling been hit by that wave and been injured? But his mother had taken care of him so she should have seen and called a physician. Then maybe creating that wave, then having to rush over, and finally needing to stop it had messed with his spiritual energy somehow and this was the result? But senior martial brother Yu had found him and brought him back here. Also, he had been staying here the whole time. Wouldn’t he have realized if that was the problem?

Right! Jing Yi sat up straight. It was his mother who had told him what Qiu Ling’s condition was right now. Because he had been anxious to see Qiu Ling, he hadn’t actually asked Yu Jin. He should go and do that right now! Even if it wasn’t much, there should definitely be something that he could tell him.

With that thought, he jumped to his feet and rushed out of the room and back to the one where Leng Jin Yu was staying. Knocking on the door, he hardly waited for the response before he hurried to explain why he had come back. "senior martial brother Yu, it’s me again, Jing Yi. I just went to see Qiu Ling and I wanted to know if you know what is wrong with him."

Inside the room, Leng Jin Yu raised his gaze to the door, sighing faintly. "I do have a guess."

Jing Yi stared at the door, not sure how to proceed. "Then … If you know why …" He stopped himself. No, he was going about this wrong. If senior martial brother Yu knew what was wrong and knew of a way to help Qiu Ling, he would have done it. So this could only mean … "Could it be you … don’t know what to do to help him?"

Leng Jin Yu closed his eyes. Obviously, Jing Yi was really suffering because of this. Well, it was good for his trial. Anyway, this was a good opportunity to have him help with making the dragon king wake up. He just couldn’t be too obvious or it might blow his cover if the details somehow got out and back to the sect. So for now, it would be best to pretend he really didn’t know and was only guessing. Then, he could later present him with the options to save the dragon king. "That is indeed the case."

Jing Yi sighed. "I see …" He bit his lower lip again but he wasn’t willing to give up so easily and instead continued to question Leng Jin Yu. "Well, if you have a guess what caused this, then maybe we could try to think of a solution together?"

Leng Jin Yu finally stood up and went over to the door, opening it for Jing Yi before he motioned inside. "Why don’t you sit down, junior martial brother Zhong?"

Jing Yi nodded with a hopeful smile and hurriedly sat down. Maybe Yu Jin could really help him? He didn’t know many people in the sect and he certainly didn’t know anything about Yu Jin after only having him met once but there was the blue cloud pattern on his sleeves so he had to be an inner sect disciple and if he had understood correctly, he was even the disciple of the Sect Master. He should know a lot about cultivation.

While Jing Yi was getting hopeful, Leng Jin Yu put on a neutral expression just as he had done back in the sect all the time. "I’m afraid I can’t answer your questions. I was unable to find out what exactly caused senior martial brother Qiu to become like this. If I knew, I might be able to help him."

"I see. Then what should we do? We can’t just wait, can we?"

"I’m afraid that will be the only thing we can do. He’s already in this condition. Even though I couldn’t find the cause, I still think it is something internal."

"Internal?"

Leng Jin Yu lowered his gaze, making sure he gave nothing away even though he was sure that Jing Yi didn’t have the experience to understand even if he noticed that something was off. "You’re an outer sect disciple. You probably don’t know much about cultivation, do you?"

Jing Yi shook his head.

"Let me say it like this: Sometimes, things can go wrong with somebody’s cultivation. That is what we call a Qi deviation."

"And you think Qiu Ling has encountered something like that?"

"Yes. This type of thing can be caused by many issues, one of them being an inner demon." He didn’t explain any further since this was likely the actual issue with the dragon king.

"I don’t think I understand."

"To put it simply: An inner demon is something that haunts us. It can originate from a lot of things. Regrets, old memories, things we want to attain but are unable to … There are hundreds if not thousands of possibilities. But most of them have to do with our inner thoughts and emotions. That is why cultivators often shut their emotions out. That way, it’s harder to form attachments to people or things and also more difficult to form an inner demon.

"Anyway, the inner demons have in common that they can only be solved by the person suffering from them themselves. If somebody else is close enough to them that they can circumvent their guard, then they may be able to penetrate into their inner self and help. But that is nearly impossible and even if one manages to do so, it is extremely dangerous for both people. Thus, I don’t think there is anything we can do."

"So there is really nothing we can do?"

Leng Jin Yu nodded. "I’m afraid that is the case. I thought he might be able to solve it on his own but nothing has happened after such a long time. I’m afraid he’d need help and … well, who would render it?"

Jing Yi nodded and hung his head. "I see. Then … I’m sorry that I’ve disturbed you."

Leng Jin Yu’s lips twitched. Wait. Was the crown prince’s reincarnation really giving up so soon? Shouldn’t he try to hold on longer? Somehow, his plan seemed to have backfired completely.