In the end, Qiu Ling picked Jing Yi up and carried him away from that place without a word of explanation. The scene they happened upon next made him clench his teeth, though. Why was his inner self littered with the corpses of people he had killed?
Qiu Ling stopped regardless. At least, this seemed less conspicuous than the one before. Jing Yi glanced up at his face first when he was let down onto the ground and only then took a look around. He couldn't say that he wasn't surprised at what he saw. They were actually in front of a battlefield.
He took in a sharp breath and silently grabbed Qiu Ling's hand. Then, the two of them stared ahead, both not knowing what to say.
Jing Yi didn't understand what this was about. He could only surmise that Qiu Ling might have fought in a war before. After all, he was already an immortal. Who knew how long he had actually lived? If he saw people in danger, he naturally would have lent his assistance. But he probably felt bad since so many people had still lost their lives here.
Qiu Ling's thoughts were going in a completely different direction. He understood fully well what this in front of them was and why it was inside his inner self. He didn't like it any more than that dead woman from before, though.
Finally, Jing Yi couldn't take it any longer. "Qiu Ling … What's this?"
The battle that made me king. Naturally, he couldn't say this, so he just sighed.
Jing Yi felt like this sigh was a confirmation of his thoughts. He patted Qiu Ling's back and gave him a smile when he looked down. "I'm here with you."
Qiu Ling nodded. "That's right. You're here with me." He hugged Jing Yi to his chest and smiled with satisfaction.
Honestly, too many bad things had happened in his life. Even he himself thought so. But if that wasn't the case, then he never would have met Jing He. He never would have fallen in love this much and would have missed out on that feeling of happiness. In the end, all this crap had probably been worth it.
Qiu Ling looked at the battlefield, his gaze landing accurately on the face of that hateful bastard. Back then, he hadn't understood why that man had been smiling at him like that. Only later when he had already been crowned and things had calmed down in the dragon realm did he finally hear that Jin Ling had similarly taken the throne of the demon realm. Ugh, he had actually helped that bastard to become king. He really wanted to slap himself.
Well, there was nothing that could be done about it. He had already killed the old king and there wouldn't have been any other way considering that the lives of all those people of their dragon race had been at stake. This was once again something he would do all the same if he got another chance.
He really couldn't understand why his inner self would want to trap him here. For every decision he had made in his life, he could say in good conscience that he would make them exactly like that again. So … What was this all about? Was he supposed to change his views or something?
He looked at the small person in his arms and a gentle smile lit his features up. These things … though he did them he felt like they weren't really his fault. All of that had begun before he had even been born. Why should he feel bad about it? Why should he even care about it?
Jing Yi looked up at that moment and caught his gaze. "How do you feel?"
"Like all of this is pointless."
"How so?"
Qiu Ling sighed. "Even if there were some regrets, it couldn't be changed anyway. So what's there to be hung up about? Wouldn't it be better to look forward?"
"But you wouldn't be here if you could do that, would you? Something must be holding you back or else you never would have been trapped here."
Qiu Ling caressed Jing Yi's cheek, silently gazing at those eyes that reminded him so much of Jing He's even though this was another reincarnation of his. "But what if that is also something that can't be changed?"
"Everything can be changed."
Qiu Ling smiled sadly. No, unfortunately, this time his beloved wasn't right. There were things you couldn't change.
Jing Yi felt Qiu Ling's skepticism. "Well, maybe there are things you can't change but you can learn to live with them, can't you?"
"What if it's not about yourself, but about other people?"
"I'm not sure I understand."
"Maybe that's better." Qiu Ling kissed his cheek and then let go of him. "Let's continue. There has to be some way out of here."
Jing Yi followed him but he frowned. He somehow felt like the time in his inner self wasn't helping Qiu Ling at all. It seemed he was unable to shake his inner demon off. The worst thing was that he still had no idea what exactly that inner demon was. It should have to do with the things that had happened in Qiu Ling's past but how were these things connected?
He couldn't understand that. Maybe that woman had known Qiu Ling's parents. That would explain why she had a part in this. But if Qiu Ling had fought in that war, then he would have needed to be an adult by then. Could that really still be tied to his parents? After all, he seemed to have been a child when they died.
"Qiu Ling …" Jing Yi opened his mouth to ask but only with some hesitation. He didn't want to rip some old wounds open but he also couldn't imagine how they would get out of here if he didn't do something. After all, Qiu Ling didn't seem to have any idea how to deal with this either. They had to try something!
"What is it, my love?" Qiu Ling seemed unperturbed by the endless darkness around them as if none of this was important and they were just taking a leisurely stroll like they had done back in the Yun Zou Sect.
"Your parents … What happened to them?"
Just as he had expected, Qiu Ling tensed. "That … Let's not talk about that, alright?"
"Why not?"
Qiu Ling evaded his gaze. "It was long ago."
"But it must have had a big influence on you. Losing both your parents early …"
"It wasn't that bad." He said so but his expression was wooden.
Jing Yi lowered his head. He also didn't want to hurt Qiu Ling. But what else could they do? He searched for something he could say to continue the conversation but before he found anything Qiu Ling became slower.
Jing Yi looked up at his face and noticed that his gaze was locked on a point in front of them. He turned around and lifted his brows. There was a pair of magnificent gates in front of them. They weren't the astonishing thing, though. What really surprised him was the fact that the place behind them wasn't dark like the rest of Qiu Ling's inner self. Instead, it was brightly illuminated like on a sunny day.
Jing Yi looked at Qiu Ling's face again, a question written in his eyes: Just what is this place? But this time, Qiu Ling actually wasn't paying attention to him. He was completely focused on the gates in front of them.
It didn't need to be said how big of an influence these gates needed to have on him to actually make him ignore the reincarnation of his beloved. There was probably only one reason that would let Qiu Ling react as such. Without thinking, Qiu Ling already hurried over not even considering for a split second if Jing Yi could keep up with him. Thus was the appeal of what lay behind those gates.