Jing Yi knitted his brows. "Senior Martial Brother Yu? How did you …"
Leng Jin Yu sighed. "It's not so easy to explain. You could say that my case was a bit different from yours. My experience … most likely won't help you."
"Oh." Jing Yi lowered his head. He had really hoped that maybe this could make him overcome his current problem so that he would be able to take in the spiritual energy and maybe really advance a level. But now it seemed that that would be impossible. "Then … what do we do now? If I can't take in the spiritual energy …"
Jing Yi stopped talking. He also knew that he was making things really difficult for Yu Jin. He was only in the second stage and still had to eat. But there probably weren't any regular plants in this secret realm. The only things that could be eaten here were the spiritual fruits but those also contained spiritual energy. If he couldn't calm his mind, then he could forget about eating anything. And naturally, exchanging food for spiritual energy was out of the question anyway.
Jing Yi felt depressed. What had first seemed like a great help hadn't gotten them any results. They were still back at the point where they noticed that him being still a normal mortal being would bring a lot of problems. He really was making things difficult for Yu Jin.
Leng Jin Yu observed the changes in Jing Yi's face. He could imagine what he was thinking right now. Unfortunately, there was nothing much he could do. Talking to him wouldn't necessarily calm him down. If it could, then he would've already been calm by now. After all, he had already tried to talk to him.
Ah, maybe he should have told him that he believed everything would be alright with Longjun? That might have done the trick. But if he tried that now, the boy would certainly think that he was just saying it to help him and not believe it. In fact, it might make things even worse.
For the first time, Leng Jin Yu could see for himself how easy it was for fate to go awry. Such a small decision had actually brought them into this kind of situation. It seemed the Fate's Scribe didn't have it easy. Even without the dragon king interfering something like this could happen so easily. What more if there was someone who deliberately tried to change fate.
Well, for now, he had to first solve the issue at hand. "Let's put these away for later and have another look around. Did you see some Heart-Calming Buddha Flower?"
Jing Yi blinked his eyes. "Heart-Calming Buddha Flower?" He had never heard of that.
Leng Jin Yu nodded. "That's not a problem. I'll come with you and have a look myself. As I said before I don't know much about herbs but there are some I know. The Heart-Calming Buddha Flower is a herb that can calm one's state of mind. The blossoms look like a Buddha seated in a meditation pose, hence the name. If we are able to find one, your problem could be solved."
"I'll try to help Senior Martial Brother Yu look for it then." He had never even seen a picture of the plant but it shouldn't be too hard to recognize a plant with such curiously shaped blossoms, should it?"
Leng Jin Yu nodded. "While we're at it we should take some more spiritual fruits. The herbs aren't bad for taking in spiritual energy but you can't eat them. The spiritual fruits are different. In your current situation …"
Jing Yi nodded. That was indeed true. He couldn't live just off spiritual energy. Spiritual Fruits were really his best choice in this situation. It was just … "I don't know much about them. The ones I brought back … Does Senior Martial Brother Yu know what they are?"
Leng Jin Yu nodded again. "They're called Flame Berries. They're beneficial to people with fire spiritual veins."
"Well, I have full spirit veins so it shouldn't be a problem."
Leng Jin Yu murmured an assent and put the herbs and fruits into his spatial ring. Looking at how he had to store everything … "Mn. Here." He took out a spatial bag he still had lying in there and handed it to Jing Yi.
"This is …?"
"A spatial bag. I can take most of the herbs and fruits so that they won't rot but it would be for the best if you had some with you as well. Who knows what will happen? Maybe we'll be separated while we're in here. Then at that time, you wouldn't have anything to eat. If you'd be unable to go and search for something because of your circumstances at that time, you'd starve to death."
"Oh." Jing Yi hurriedly put the remaining fruits inside and tied the bag to his waist.
Leng Jin Yu nodded and turned away without wasting even another word. "Let's go then."
Jing Yi followed him. He had already seen all the herbs in this part of the grove so he didn't pay that much attention to them. If the Heart-Calming Buddha Flower really grew in the grove, then it still wouldn't be in this part.
Jing Yi would have liked to ask Yu Jin some things about cultivation and maybe even the spiritual fruits but he seemed unapproachable. He didn't dare to randomly blurt something out but he also didn't have a question he could start with.
Thus, Yu Jin and Jing Yi quietly walked through the grove. Soon enough they reached the middle where the Flame Berries were growing. Yu Jin stopped some steps away and waited. He didn't say anything though.
Jing Yi hesitated a moment before he walked to the shrub and plucked a few more of the Flame Berries. Looking at the spiritual fruits in his hands he once again looked at Yu Jin. "Senior Martial Brother Yu …"
Leng Jin Yu turned around and raised his eyebrows.
"Uh, I just wondered … Spiritual herbs often have quite the harsh requirements on where they can grow. So, do you know something about that Heart-Calming Buddha Flower? Where would it grow?"
"It should grow somewhere cool. Maybe around a source of water."
Jing Yi waited for more but Yu Jin had already stopped talking. There was no way to start a conversation with him. Jing Yi bit his lip and pointed ahead. "If I'm not wrong, there should be a pond not far from here. Maybe we should look there."
Yu Jin nodded, turned around and started walking ahead again.
Jing Yi sighed. Faced with this silent approach of his senior martial brother he missed Qiu Ling's constant chattering even more.