Jing Yi tried to save the fruits but it was already too late. When the two of them both took a bite to decide whether they could still be eaten, there was nothing but a burnt taste. Some of the skin had even turned black and was falling off.

Qiu Ling furrowed his brows at the fruit in his hands, then took the one from Jing Yi and threw it aside. Anyway, he couldn’t let his beloved eat something disgusting like this.

"That … What will we eat now?" Jing Yi looked at Qiu Ling with a troubled expression. They had found these fruits not far from the road they were following and it was the only thing they still had. Everything else had already been eaten and it didn’t seem like there was any town or village around they would be able to get something from.

Qiu Ling pursed his lips and then searched through his spatial ring. He should have some spiritual fruits in there or something, right? Unfortunately, it didn’t seem that way.

Qiu Ling furrowed his brows and looked at his beloved with a guilty expression. Who would have thought that he’d ever let the love of his life go hungry? This was completely unimaginable!

Rallying himself like this, Qiu Ling grabbed his hands, squeezing them tightly. "Don’t worry about it, my love! I’ll go and find something to eat for us."

"But —"

"Are you worried about me? You don’t have to! You can rest assured that nobody in the vicinity would be able to hurt me." He was a dragon, after all. Whether it was beasts or bandits, he wasn’t afraid of either of them!

Jing Yi didn’t look convinced though. He knew that Qiu Ling was able to fight and that nobody would be able to defeat him easily. After all, he had seen him fight at the Gathering of Practitioners and take care of those other disciples in a matter of minutes. On the other hand, he couldn’t help but worry since he had also seen Qiu Ling’s foolish side.

He looked around, not sure how to bring the matter up. "It’s already getting late so it’ll be dark soon."

"I don’t mind being out in the dark. I —" Qiu Ling stopped and blinked his eyes, finally tilting his head. Then, he inched closer. "Could it be that you’re afraid in the dark? Don’t worry about it! I can hold you so you’ll be able to sleep without worries!" Ah, why hadn’t he noticed sooner? Wouldn’t it have been great if —

"It’s not that!" Jing Yi’s cheeks flushed bright red and he tried to take back his hands but Qiu Ling held onto him tightly.

Qiu Ling wanted to tell him that this was nothing to be embarrassed about but finally stopped himself. His Jing He had always put on a strong front. He certainly wouldn’t admit to being afraid. That wouldn’t fit his image. In that case …

Qiu Ling leaned forward, looking deep into Jing Yi’s eyes. "So it was because you couldn’t bear to be separated from me. I should have known. Don’t worry. Since that’s the case I’ll take you with me."

Jing Yi gaped at the shameless person that looked as if he was doing him a favor for following his most heartfelt wish. "I … I don’t think that’s a good idea." Jing Yi pulled his hands back and this time, he managed to wrest them out of Qiu Ling’s grasp. "It’s getting dark soon. That means it’ll be difficult to see. That’s all I wanted to see. How about we just forget about it? I’m not that hungry. If you don’t have to eat anything, let’s just lie down and sleep."

He already wanted to do just that but Qiu Ling grabbed his shoulders and turned him back. "What?"

Qiu Ling shook his head. "How could we do that? I definitely can’t let you go without food!" His beloved was much too precious to be treated like that. Even if he had to search half the world, he’d still find him something decent to eat! "Anyway, don’t worry. Your fiance is able to deal with this matter." He pulled Jing Yi to his feet and then picked him up, carrying him in his arms. "Just give me a moment." He turned around, wanting to rise up into the air.

"Ah, wait!" Jing Yi clung to his shoulders and took a shaky breath. He had already flown once but this style of suddenly being picked up was still too much. Couldn’t he have at least warned him? And other than that … "What about the fire?"

Qiu Ling glanced at it before he looked back at his beloved. "What about it?"

"It’s still burning! How can we just let it be? Do you want to burn down the whole forest?!"

Qiu Ling shook his head and then carelessly waved his hand, extinguishing the fire at once. He really couldn’t understand what the fuss was about. "Better? Then let’s go!" he didn’t wait for Jing Yi to say anything, pushed off the ground and then flew around the edge of the forest, trying to see if he could see any other spiritual fruits or maybe a town. Mn, a town would be even better. His beloved shouldn’t just need to eat some berries. No, he deserved to have a real meal!

Soon enough, the two of them did indeed see something. It couldn’t be called a town and was rather a small village with only about a dozen huts or so. Qiu Ling didn’t care. This was still better than having to eat just fruits.

Thus he happily flew down, landing in front of one of the houses. When he knocked, no answer could be heard though. It seemed as if the village was empty.