Zhangsun Xun Yi emptied the cup and got up. "You’re officially my disciple now." He felt that an explanation was necessary considering how Qiu Ling had misunderstood him before. Now that he hadn’t left things to chance and explained clearly, nothing could go wrong. "Since this is done I’ll show you where you’ll be staying from now on." He motioned at Qiu Ling to follow him and left the study, walking down several corridors until they arrived at the door to a room in the back of the palace. This place was perfect. There wouldn’t be too many distractions around so his disciple could focus completely on meditating and training the sword arts.

Zhangsun Xun Yi stepped to the side and motioned at the door. "Please. You can go in and take a look."

Qiu Ling didn’t need to be told twice. The palace was alright but he needed to make sure that his personal chambers would also be up to par. After all, this was where he would invite his Jing He to. It needed to be of a certain standard.

He pushed the door open and glanced around. The room was spacious, albeit a little empty. There were only a desk, a platform for meditation, and a bed. Qiu Ling ignored the former two and turned to examine the latter. Contrary to the room, the bed was everything but spacious. One person might have enough space to lie there comfortably but it would get difficult with two people. How was he supposed to invite his Jing He here? No, he definitely had to exchange the thing for something else!

Zhangsun Xun Yi cleared his throat when he felt that his disciple had had enough time to look around. "You can go and meditate first. I’ll come and get you when we’ll start with training the sword arts. Should anything be the matter until then you can come and find me in my study. Do you have any questions?"

Qiu Ling shook his head. This guy had put such a narrow bed in his room. Obviously, he wasn’t the right person to ask where to find a better one. He’d have to find out on his own.

Zhangsun Xun Yi nodded with satisfaction and turned away, leaving Qiu Ling to himself. This new disciple of his was powerful enough and swift enough. Even though his understanding in normal conversation was lacking, that wasn’t too much of a hindrance. Now, it was time to start testing him in regard to the other features that were important for a practitioner. For now, he’d like to see just how much patience his disciple could show. Would he come and look for him in his study under some pretense? Or would he really continue to stay in his room and meditate until he came to get him? If yes, then how long could he manage? He didn’t show it outwardly but he couldn’t help but feel a little excited when he thought that it might be a long time.

Grandmaster Zhangsun was bound to be disappointed though. Qiu Ling did indeed close the door behind him and sat down on the meditation platform but he was far from meditating. Instead, he glared at the bed darkly and contemplated whether he should contact someone from the dragon realm right now to bring him a better one. Ah, wouldn’t his beloved be extremely happy when he came here and saw that everything was already prepared perfectly for them to get married and live their life in bliss?

Qiu Ling imagined Jing He’s moved expression and unwittingly smiled. Then he froze. Wait! This wasn’t in the Nine Heavens. This was still his beloved’s trial in the mortal realm. So it was his beloved’s mortal reincarnation that would be happy about this. Mn, come to think of it, he hadn’t seen him in quite a while. He should probably go and take a look first. Just taking a look certainly couldn’t be called interfering with his trial, could it?

Thus Qiu Ling Ling who was supposed to meditate until his Master came to fetch him, got up again and quietly left Zhangsun Xun Yi’s palace, hurrying to the place where he could feel the mark he had left on Jing Yi.

Ah, he couldn’t wait to see him again! How much older was he now? Would he have grown taller? Would he look more lovable? Qiu Ling frowned at himself. What was he thinking there? Of course, his beloved wouldn’t look more lovable. He had already looked the most lovable the last time he had seen him!

Qiu Ling shook his head and continued to fly over. One of the disciples in the inner sect looked up when he flew past him and rubbed his eyes as if he couldn’t believe what he had seen. Qiu Ling cursed inwardly. It seemed he had forgotten to hide his figure. Well, he was a disciple himself now so it wasn’t too important. But if the humans could see him, then he couldn’t do anything that was impossible for humans. After all, he couldn’t risk that he was recognized and somehow jeopardized his beloved’s trial.

He slowed down and finally stopped at a place not far from where he could feel Jing Yi. This part of the sect didn’t look too well. The buildings here weren’t as spacious as Zhangsun Xun Yi’s palace and they seemed slightly rundown too. Qiu Ling gritted his teeth. He would have liked to do nothing more than to grab Jing Yi and bring him back to the palace but he understood that this would be against the trial so he just approached the building where Jing Yi was and grumbled.

Seeing his beloved … his heart melted. Ah, he had been completely wrong! His beloved indeed looked more lovable than the last time! In fact, he looked so lovable that he had trouble to keep back from walking over and pulling him up into his arms. Mn, obviously, his beloved had only been waiting for him. They should reunite now!