Qiu Ling ran away and hurriedly took on his original appearance, patting his chest. "Haish … That was close! I wonder how he thought of that though. It’s been so long. Shouldn’t he have forgotten already?" He pondered for a while but in the end, he could only sigh. It seemed he wouldn’t be able to use 'grandfather' to help his beloved. Well, he should probably wait for Fu Min to investigate and then come up with a new plan.

Qiu Ling blinked his eyes. Right … If he wanted Fu Min to investigate. He first had to tell him. He took out a transmission stone and contacted the other dragon. "Fu Min! You go and investigate something for me!"

Fu Min’s gaze darted around. "What something would that be, Your Majesty?" Considering the things that had happened the last time he went to the mortal realm for him, he wasn’t too sure if he should dread this or look forward to it.

"Cultivation! I need to know everything about how humans cultivate. Can you do that?"

That sounded quite normal? "I guess so?"

"Then go and do it!" Qiu Ling didn’t wait for him to say anything else and just cut off the connection. He turned to return to the clearing when he remembered the excuse he had brought up. Right! He still needed some firewood and food.

He looked around and then started to gather wood, throwing it into his spatial ring so he could take more. Anyway, if they didn’t need it right now, they could always use it later on their travels. After all, they’d be gone for a long time. Mn, a whole year of traveling together … Qiu Ling’s expression turned dreamy and he didn’t even notice how he filled half the place in his spatial ring with dead wood.

The small creature he had taken from the Court of Flames when he was gathering the ingredients for the Amethyst Lightning Pill whined and dashed below a table. This person was too much! Not only had he thrown it into this strange place without ever letting it out, now he was even throwing strange stuff at it! It should burn all these useless things down to teach him a lesson!

It puffed up its fur but then reconsidered when it thought of Qiu Ling’s displeased expression. Anyway … it might be better to wait a bit longer. Maybe it’ll be delivered to that 'special person' soon. Who knew where that person lived? It might be a really long way …

It drew back further into a corner and curled up its body to make sure it wouldn’t be hit by the wood. Anyway, sooner or later, that guy should stop throwing things.

Qiu Ling did indeed stop throwing wood. But only when a voice sounded behind him.

"Qiu Ling?"

"Uh?" He turned around and was faced with his beloved. "My love! Did you come because you couldn’t take the waiting any longer?!" He rushed over and wanted to swap him up into his arms.

Jing Yi moved out of the way and furrowed his brows. "No. Do you have any idea how long you’ve been gone?" Never mind the time he had spent with that shameless old man, he had already waited a while before that and since that guy ran away, even more time had passed. He had really started to worry about Qiu Ling. "Is everything alright? You didn’t get hurt, did you?" He looked him over, wanting to make sure that he was alright. Anyway, he had already calmed down and was only worried right now.

Qiu Ling looked at himself and then sighed. "Ah, that …" His gaze darted around and he finally pulled out the only excuse he could think of on the spot. "I met somebody and he wouldn’t stop talking." Indeed. Fu Min had said so much but never reminded him of going back to his beloved! It was all his fault. It had to be.

Jing Yi’s expression turned dark. "Could it have been a shameless old man?"

Qiu Ling blinked. Old man? Shameless? He wouldn’t be referring to … himself?! Qiu Ling cried inwardly cried but made sure not to expose his thoughts on the outside. His beloved definitely couldn’t know that he had anything to do with this!

Thus he shook his head and put on a puzzled expression. "No, it was some … young guy." Well, from a certain perspective, this was indeed true. If he remembered right, Fu Min had still been a child back when he became king.

Jing Yi nodded with relief. Originally, he had felt that he would like to introduce Qiu Ling to his grandfather as soon as he came back. After all, he had regarded this Daoist Master as his family. But now that he had thought about it and even seen the man shamelessly flee after he confronted him about it, he didn’t know what to think. He also couldn’t feel the same elation anymore that he had felt when he originally saw him again after all these years. Just why had he lied to him?

Jing Yi’s expression turned sad. He had trusted this person but it seemed that had been wrong. What else was there to feel other than sadness?

Qiu Ling couldn’t help but feel slightly guilty at that sight. "Uh … What’s the matter? You’re looking so …" He pondered how to say it but finally just reached out and rubbed his beloved’s cheek. "Is everything alright?"

Jing Yi looked up and his brows furrowed. "You … Have you ever lied to somebody?"

"Huh?" Qiu Ling blanked. His beloved wouldn’t have figured it out, would he?! "That … Why are you asking?" First, he had to find out more. Only then could he decide whether he was supposed to admit it or if he had to deny it with everything he got!