Meanwhile, Qiu Ling very happily hugged Jing Yi to his chest with the excuse of it being for his own safety. In fact, he was a little regretful that he hadn’t insisted on carrying him in his arms. After all, wouldn’t they be much closer like that?

Unfortunately, it was too late for that now. He would only be able to bring it up when they took the next break. Anyway, despite this missed opportunity, he was happy to notice that Jing Yi didn’t seem to mind his hug. In fact, he was holding onto his arm as if … he was very much into this himself.

Yes, that had to be it.

It certainly couldn’t be that his beloved was afraid and was just holding on to him for additional security. No, that would be way too easy of an explanation.

Mn, it seemed that traveling together was indeed doing wonders for their relationship. Or maybe this was the influence of his mother-in-law? After all, she had talked with Jing Yi back in the capital …

Qiu Ling couldn’t help but marvel at this possibility for a while. If this was true … It was almost unbelievable! He had known that having his mother-in-law on his side and help him out a bit was effective but he never would have thought that it could be this effective! This was like … like going to war and winning instantly after appointing a different general! Ah! He should have taken his beloved home sooner!

Anyway, he now had a golden opportunity to spend quality time with his beloved so he had to use it wisely. The best thing would probably be to … take his time?

Qiu Ling’s gaze darted around and finally, he inconspicuously waved. The wind lessened and the cloud slowed down. Mn, perfect. Now, they would need at least double as long before they got to their destination.

Unfortunately, Jing Yi did notice that something was up. He cracked his eyes open and looked at the cloud below them. Just now, he had felt so comfortable that he almost would have fallen asleep. "Could it be that we just slowed down?" He tried to turn in Qiu Ling’s arms to look into his face.

Qiu Ling panicked. "That … Well, the wind might not be blowing as strongly here. Anyway …" He cleared his throat and searched for a subject he could bring up to distract Jing Yi. "Since we have a bit of time until we reach that place, we should think about how to go about this."

Jing Yi nodded. "That’s a good idea. Well, I think the main issue is that I don’t know how to sense the energy and take it in. Normally, it should work everywhere. A place with lots of energy might make it easier but if I can’t grasp that, it won’t help either."

"And there is no way to learn that?" Qiu Ling frowned. He had felt like his idea was pretty good but now it seemed that it might not help his beloved very much.

Jing Yi looked up at his face and smiled. "No, I think my grandfather is right, it’ll help. I just … I don’t want to get my hopes too high up. You see, the grounds of the Yun Zou Sect are rich in spiritual energy anyway. So maybe I was just unable to combine the different energies with each other. Let’s just try this. If I can learn to sense them easier when only one is around, then I might be able to learn how to combine them and take them in. We’ll see about that."

"Mn." Qiu Ling smiled back at him and looked around. They were currently flying over a small river. It looked … quite picturesque. His gaze once again darted around before he descended to the ground.

Jing Yi looked at him confused before he turned to the river. "Is this the place? Do you think we should start with water?"

Qiu Ling froze. This … this wasn’t what he had planned at all! "Uh, that …" He cleared his throat and pulled his beloved away from the water. "That wasn’t what I was thinking about. It’s just that we’ve been traveling for a while and I thought we should take a break. Do you want something to eat?"

Jing Yi looked at him strangely. "We just ate before we left."

"So you don’t." Qiu Ling didn’t quite know how to continue. He scratched his neck and looked around for inspiration. Unfortunately, the only thing this inspired him to was some sappy words of love that his beloved probably wouldn’t like to hear. In that case …

He flopped down onto the ground and held his forehead. "Ah, that was pretty exhausting! We should take a break and refuel. Anyway, maintaining such a cloud isn’t easy at all. It’s a pity you can’t stand it when I hug you to fly on my sword. That would make things so much easier."

Jing Yi looked at Qiu Ling with a skeptical expression. "Really?"

Qiu Ling looked up and blinked his eyes. "But of course! Would I ever lie to you?"

Jing Yi very carefully considered the words he wanted to give in response to that. "Well …"

"Anyway!" Qiu Ling interrupted him once again. "After I’ve rested for a bit, we can continue. I think water isn’t very suitable for starting."

"Oh." Jing Yi crouched down next to him and glanced at Qiu Ling’s face. He didn’t look exhausted at all. In fact, he was most likely doing that because he did want to hold him in his arms while they traveled.

Jing Yi considered for a moment and finally swallowed down his pride. Qiu Ling had done a lot for him and anyway, he wouldn’t lose anything if he fulfilled his wish. And with how things stood between them, he wasn’t completely against the idea.

He sighed and then gave Qiu Ling a smile. "Well, if it’s easier, then let’s do it that way."

"Ah?"

"Yeah, when you’re feeling better again, you can just hold me in your arms and we’ll fly over that way."

"Really?"

"Really."

Before Jing Yi had time to reassure him some more, Qiu Ling had already leaped to his feet and scooped Jing Yi up onto his arms, rushing back to the sky. "Suddenly, I’m feeling much better."

Jing Yi clung to his neck to stabilize himself and gave him an incredulous look.

Qiu Ling tensed and mechanically turned his head to reciprocate that look. "That … was that too obvious?"

Jing Yi refrained from saying anything this time. There was no way to cover up his real thoughts in this situation.