Back in the Hei Dian Sect, Jing Yi had pulled Qiu Ling into the house and made him sit down at the table while he went to get something to take care of his hands. Looking at the bloody marks on it, he furrowed his brows. "Honestly, what happened out there?" He hurriedly cleaned Qiu Ling’s wound and started to bandage it.

At the same time, he couldn’t help but regret that he hadn’t been able to learn anything about alchemy yet. Maybe he could have done more for him if he had? He should probably go to the healing subdivision after all. He didn’t want to be in this kind of situation ever again. Even though the injury wasn’t big, he still couldn’t help but worry about Qiu Ling.

Qiu Ling gave a faint smile when he noticed Jing Yi’s worried gaze. "Don’t worry about it."

Jing Yi sighed and gripped Qiu Ling’s wrist so he wouldn’t worsen the injury. "Long Jun. I’m your fiance. Don’t you feel that a fiance is somebody you should share your troubles with? And don’t say there isn’t anything troubling you. I can see it. It looks a bit …" He lowered his head and gazed at Qiu Ling’s hand instead. "It looks like back then, in your inner self. You have that same expression right now."

Qiu Ling closed his eyes. Damn. He really couldn’t pretend in front of this version of Jing He. Was he really more observant than Jing He’s immortal self? Or could it be that Jing He had just pretended not to notice because he himself had things he didn’t want to talk about?

Ah, Jing He, I’d like to go up and ask you about it. Maybe I’d be surprised by your answer. He sighed when he thought about it but he knew there was no way to do so right now. He still had to wait several more years before he could see him again and hold a conversation. Even if he went now, Jing He still wouldn’t be able to answer no matter what he said.

Qiu Ling opened his eyes and pushed the thought away. For the time being, he should focus on Jing Yi. "It’s not that bad. It’s just … there was somebody hiding over there who shouldn’t have been here in the Hei Dian Sect and I’m afraid … this might have something to do with me."

Jing Yi pondered and finally looked up at Qiu Ling’s face again. "Is it … about your mother’s family?" This was the only explanation he could come up with for why Qiu Ling would take this so harshly. If it was just somebody spying on them, he likely wouldn’t have made such a fuss. After all, he was strong. What reason would he have to worry? But if it had to do with his past that was still haunting him anyway … it made sense.

He wanted to ask more but at that moment, Qiu Ling already took back his hand, stood up, and paced through the room. His expression was tangled. He really wanted to run away from this conversation but he had told himself that he should tell Jing He’s mortal reincarnation as much as he could. As his fiance, he was entitled to that knowledge just like Jing He’s immortal self was. He had failed to talk about it in the Nine Heavens so he couldn’t ignore it now. It was just that … it wasn’t that easy to explain.

"You could probably say that. It’s more complicated than that though. I guess the simplest way to explain it would probably be to compare it to the cultivation sects or maybe even better this country. You know I’m not from here, don’t you?" He turned back around and looked at Jing Yi questioningly.

He wasn’t quite sure how much Jing Yi actually understood. It probably wasn’t much. After all, he had made sure not to speak about his actual heritage so as to not endanger Jing He’s trial further. To his surprise, Jing Yi nodded though.

"I figured as much." He hadn’t consciously thought about it but it seemed quite likely. Otherwise, wouldn’t Qiu Ling have brought up where he came from already? Since he hadn’t, he should be from a country that he didn’t know.

"Mn. Well, as I’ve told you back in my inner self, I originally grew up in the capital of our kingdom. You could even say I spent half my childhood at the royal court. My father was the king’s right-hand man after all. The man my mother had fallen in love with was from another kingdom. In fact, he was that other kingdom’s sovereign and one who felt like he had the right to our kingdom’s throne."

Jing Yi furrowed his brows. He had already thought that it was quite complicated when it had only sounded like a personal vendetta between two families but to think that this was about entire countries … he couldn’t even begin to imagine it. "So all of what happened to your family back then was because he wanted to take over the kingdom. It didn’t work though, or did it?"

"No, you’re right. It didn’t. They managed to … kill the old king though." Qiu Ling turned away before his guilty conscience could give him away.

The old geezer probably had his reasons for fleeing the dragon realm. Most likely, he wanted to rest here in the mortal realm to heal the injury the soul-devouring dagger had caused him. It was a miracle anyway that he was still alive after being injured with that thing. As far as Qiu Ling knew nobody else had ever managed to live through that. He really was curious how he had done it …

Anyway, he couldn’t tell Jing He. The fewer people knew the better. In fact, it would be for the best if the only ones who knew of that would be the old geezer, that human Grandmaster from the Yun Zou Sect, and he himself. That way, nobody would be able to inadvertently give the information away.