Jing Yi closed his eyes and took a deep breath. This couldn’t be everything. He had to be able to find out more from this. In the end, these changes came from Qiu Ling so … maybe the key wasn’t in the spiritual energy itself but with what he was doing?

Jing Yi opened his eyes and looked at Qiu Ling who blinked his eyes in return. He wanted to speak up at first but then lowered his head again. No, this wasn’t right. Qiu Ling had said that he should try to understand the spiritual energy better. So it had to be about that.

He focused on the energy again, trying to sense something that he hadn’t before.

Time slowly trickled by. When they started, the sun had only just risen but soon enough, it reached its zenith, the rays burning down on them.

Qiu Ling glanced up at the sky and furrowed his brows. His beloved still hadn’t started cultivating yet so he still had a mortal body. Sitting in the hot sun for a long time wouldn’t be good for him at all. Without stopping to manipulate the spiritual energy of the air, Qiu Ling urged some of the clouds to gather above them, dimming the unforgiving sunlight.

Jing Yi startled awake from his own efforts and opened his eyes, looking at Qiu Ling in a daze. "That … What did you do just now?"

Qiu Ling blinked his eyes and looked at him cluelessly. He hadn’t done anything special just now, had he? He shouldn’t have had a lapse in attention regarding the spiritual energy, should he? He pondered but felt that everything had stayed the same. So what was his beloved talking about?

After a moment, his eyes slightly widened. Could it be … His beloved had noticed that it had suddenly turned pleasantly cold and now he suspected that it was him who had done this so he wanted to thank him?!

Thinking of that, Qiu Ling tried to put on a humble expression but failed spectacularly. "Ah, it’s nothing much. I just thought that it might be a little too hot for you so I gathered some clouds to shield you from the sun. It’s really not anything special. Just a wave of the hand does the trick."

Jing Yi looked up at the clouds that could indeed be seen above them and his expression became pensive. Gathering clouds … "You probably used your spiritual energy for that?"

Qiu Ling raised his brows and glanced up. "Yes?" How else would he do that?

Jing Yi continued to ponder. Just now, he had felt that something was different. He had still sensed the spiritual energy in the surroundings but it had felt different from before. Could it be that this was a part of what he needed to understand? Unfortunately, he didn’t know what exactly it was that he should gather from this. What was different about this energy and that?

He furrowed his brows and finally couldn’t help but refer to Qiu Ling again. "You didn’t do that in the same way you were moving the air before, did you?"

Qiu Ling shook his head, still not quite understanding what his beloved was talking about. "No, I didn’t. I mean, I could. Would it help you somehow if I used the energy of the wind for that?"

Jing Yi shook his head. "That’s not what I mean. I just felt that what you did was a bit different. And I was wondering why that was. So you used … another kind of energy?"

Qiu Ling finally realized just what his beloved was talking about and his gaze lit up. "Yes! That’s it. You see, there are raindrops gathered in the clouds so they are actually full of the spiritual energy of the water. So you can either move the clouds by using that energy or you can push them around by utilizing the air around them. It works both but it’s sometimes faster if you use the energy they themselves are made up of."

Jing Yi slowly nodded his head. So it was like that. What he had just sensed was another kind of spiritual energy. "They do feel different I guess. The two spiritual energies I mean. But they also not that different. It’s just a little bit, isn’t it?"

Qiu Ling pondered and then nodded. "I guess so. Well, maybe some differ more from each other than others." He pondered a moment longer, his expression turning thoughtful. "Actually, this might be something we could work on as well. Maybe it would be easier for you to command the spiritual energy if you had gotten into contact with all of them before.

"After all, you have full spirit veins. That means that you should be able to sense every kind of spiritual energy and then use it. Maybe if you went to places that had the different kinds and you were able to sense them at least once, then that might spark some inspiration on how to use it."

Jing Yi nodded. "That makes sense. Then should we head to another place now or …?"

Qiu Ling glanced up at the sky and pondered. It was only midday now. If they flew over to the next place, they should be able to make it there no time. Then again … "Well, you’ve been working tirelessly for a few hours. Why don’t we take a short break now and then head over to the next place? I thought of this place immediately when we came up with the idea originally but I’ll have to think about where to go for the next part. That’ll give me some time as well."

Jing Yi nodded and squeezed Qiu Ling’s hand. "Very well. Then I guess I’ll try to make a fire for us again now."

Qiu Ling got to his feet and pulled him up, going back to the fireplace they had left next to the tree. Ah, this really was nice. It seemed that his plan to help Jing He’s reincarnation make progress was really working out well.