Qiu Ling ditched An Bai and the frightened god and hurried over to his master's side. Mn, if anyone knew where the old geezer had vanished to, then it should be him. Qiu Ling didn't care about the disciples around them and just directly dropped the spell that had hidden him from their eyes.
"Master, you need to help me!"
Zhangsun Xun Yi frowned slightly. So it turned out the person who had been sneaking around had indeed been his disciple. He had already thought as much.
Qiu Ling was unperturbed even when he didn't get an answer. This human master of his had never talked much, after all. "I went to find the old geezer but he wasn't in that special dimension. Where did he go? You surely know something!"
The Grandmaster furrowed his brow even more. That man still hadn't come back? Who exactly was that young man that had turned up at the special dimension? His disciple had also looked strange when he mentioned that name before the explosion.
"Qiu Ling, shouldn't you tell me who that Jin Ling is first?"
Qiu Ling averted his gaze. "What does that have to do with him?"
"I already told you that he went to the dimension. Isn't it likely that that man disappeared because of him? He doesn't want to be found, after all. Even exposing him to you back then was a great risk."
Qiu Ling gritted his teeth. He had already thought, too, that Jin Ling was likely the reason the old geezer had cruelly abandoned him right when he needed his help the most. Ah, that bastard! He really wanted to beat him up! But, well, that could still wait. First, he had to find the old geezer.
"So, in the end, where did he go? Do you have another special dimension hidden in the sect?"
Zhangsun Xun Yi gave his disciple an incredulous gaze. What did he think special dimensions were? "We don't."
"Then where else could he be?"
"That I don't know."
Qiu Ling frowned. "How could that be?! You clearly knew he was in that dimension! Why wouldn't you know where he went to now?"
Zhangsun Xun Yi sighed. Why had he taken this person in again? Up until now he only seemed to give him a headache. He wasn't even able to teach him a little bit! If his so-called disciple didn't always shamelessly call out 'master' whenever he wanted something, he was afraid he couldn't speak of having a master-disciple relationship with him at all.
"Qiu Ling, look: It's been a long time since that person came to the mortal realm. Back then he was gravely injured and he needed a place to rest. I provided him with that place and in return he provided the Yun Zou Sect with some help. I sometimes go to see him to make sure there isn't anything he needs but I don't know anything else. I'm just a human. How could I dare to pry into that person's matters?"
Qiu Ling pursed his lips. Hypocrite! This guy had clearly known about the issue with his father! And he dared to say he wouldn't pry into the old geezer's private matters? This was laughable!
Zhangsun Xun Yi could see that his disciple didn't believe him at all. But what could he do? He had indeed never dared to ask deeper. That man had been willing to divulge some things about his origin and the reason why he had come to the mortal realm but besides these things he hadn't talked much.
In fact, even the thing Qiu Ling was thinking of had been told to Zhangsun Xun Yi in that manner: The history Jinde had with Chun Yin, the things Jiang Heng had done to separate them, how Jiang Heng had injured him in the war with the demons, all this had been told to Zhangsun Xun Yi in bits and pieces because it was tied to Jinde's appearance in the mortal world.
Jinde didn't mind talking about it. He even liked to do so. After all, he had been alone for too long. In the special dimension but also in the last years in the dragon realm. After all, with whom should he talk about all these things?
Most people had assumed him and Chun Yin to just have been friends and there had even been rumors that their falling out had been because Jinde liked the woman Chun Yin had married. Ah, the dragon race certainly would have been shocked had they known that their king was actually more interested in that childhood friend of his.
Anyway, Jinde hadn't been able to talk about these things for a long time but doing so gave him the feeling that it wasn't completely over. Talking about it, especially talking about Chun Yin strengthened the belief that his lover would one day come and get him back. Naturally, he would tell those things to Zhangsun Xun Yi when he had the opportunity to talk.
The Grandmaster didn't know all that though and actually believed that this information had indeed just been provided for the sake of convenience so that he would take guarding the special dimension seriously.
Knowing that he had already betrayed that hope once when he let Qiu Ling in who was actually a dragon himself Zhangsun Xun Yi didn't want to make the same mistake twice so he had been extremely cautious in regard to Jin Ling. Now, it seemed like this caution had been the right decision if that person still hadn't returned to the special dimension.
Zhangsun Xun Yi took a deep breath. This person had greatly benefited the Yun Zou Sect and even if that wasn't the case, Qiu Ling was his disciple. Even if it was just for his sake, he should go and look for that person.
"Qiu Ling, can I rely on you?"
Qiu Ling tilted his head. "What do you mean, master?"
"I might not know where that person went but I think he should still be in the Yun Zou Sect. I'll go and have a look but I need someone to guard these disciples and wait with them until their injuries are better. Can you do that?"
Qiu Ling blinked. "Uh … Of course!"
Zhangsun Xun Yi nodded. "Then do so. I'll inform you immediately when I have found him."
He turned around and flew back to the Yun Zou Sect on his sword at the highest speed possible. He didn't look back at his disciple even once but maybe that was good because if he had done so, he might have coughed up blood.
In the end, the dragon king just wasn't someone one should rely on.