Xin Lan watched Leng Jin Yu leave before he turned around and went to the house where his master was staying. He didn't step in immediately. Instead, he looked at the door and took a deep breath. He could already imagine how his master would react to seeing him and what the first thing he'd say would be.
In the end, Xin Lan still opened the door and quietly stepped into the house. His gaze moved to the study and indeed, Jinde was sitting there and painting. The person he painted … naturally, it was Chun Yin. Xin Lan looked away and went over.
Jinde looked up when he saw something move from the corner of his eyes. His expression lit up. "Xin Lan!" He threw the brush aside and leaped to his feet, hurrying over. "Did you …" He looked behind him but nobody was there. The happiness in his eyes dimmed and he turned away.
Ah, what was he doing? He had waited for so long. What was getting anxious for now? Xin Lan certainly would have said it if he had brought him with him already.
"Master." Xin Lan gently grabbed his arm and led him back to the table. He even cleaned up the mess Jinde had caused just now, cleaning away those ink stains and preparing another scroll for his master.
Only when he had finished with all that did he sit down next to him and look up. "I'm sorry. He's not back yet. But the gods indeed managed to find out about the person that can open the array. It'll probably take a few days or a few weeks at most until he will be back."
"Oh. I see." Jinde grabbed the brush again but didn't paint. He didn't know what to do. Should he be wild with joy now? But maybe something else would happen that would separate them again before they could even meet?
Xin Lan lowered his gaze when he saw Jinde's lost expression. "I … found you some more information on him. It's not much but I thought you might be interested."
"Really?" Jinde turned to the side, a faint hope rising in his heart.
"Mn. He isn't just a mere human as we thought. He is actually an ascended deity send by the Nine Heavens to help in the case of the Son of Heaven. That should also be the reason why he was imprisoned in the secret realm with him."
"An ascended deity?" Jinde perked up. This was good! If he was an ascended deity, then he was already immortal. He wouldn't have to worry that they'd be separated by time.
"Mn. His real name is Leng Jin Yu." Xin Lan nodded, evading Jinde's gaze. It was good that that man had told him his real name. He actually remembered it from when he had investigated the human sects. "It hasn't been that long since he ascended so that was probably why he changed his name for the Yun Zou Sect."
"Leng Jin Yu." Jinde smiled and grabbed Xin Lan's arm. "What do you know about him?"
"Not that much I'm afraid. It's been mere decades since he ascended. Back then he was famous in the cultivation world but not many people saw him in the last couple hundred years before his ascension. He lived secluded in the Jian Yi Sect."
"The Jian Yi Sect is …"
"It is one of the premier deity sects. They were already ranked highly before Leng Jin Yu became their disciple but if I remember correctly, they rose further when he reached the higher stages of cultivation. I guess he's very talented for a human."
"Mn." Jinde nodded. "I expected nothing less from Chun Yin's reincarnation." A sweet smile graced his lips, showing very much just how much he trusted in the ability of the person he regarded as his lover. "How are his sword arts?"
"He was both a cultivator and a practitioner so they should be quite good. I'd need to see them for myself to accurately judge them."
"I see." Jinde nodded and looked at the shelf next to the window. By now there were two piles of scrolls lying there. One was the paintings of their master's courtyard that Leng Jin Yu had done while the other consisted of the paintings of Chun Yin that Jinde had painted in the last few years since coming here.
He knew that Leng Jin Yu wasn't Chun Yin. There might be some similarities owing to the fact that he carried the same soul but overall their appearance, their mannerisms, even their personality would be different. It was dumb to think of Chun Yin now.
"Do you know … what he looks like?"
"Mn. Should I …" Xin Lan motioned to the brush in Jinde's hands.
"Yes. If it's not asking too much. I know you never liked Chun Yin. It's my fault for saying so many bad things about him." Jinde stood up and paced through the room while Xin Lan ground the ink.
"You never said anything bad about him."
"Ah, don't say that. I always complained. I wasn't happy with him back then. Marrying that woman, leaving me behind …" He sighed. "I couldn't accept it. Had I known that it would end like this …" He stopped at the window and shook his head. "I did so many things wrong."
Xin Lan's grip on the brush tightened and he had to take a deep breath before he could continue to paint that portray. How dare this person make his master say something like that! How was it his fault? It was clearly him. Had Chun Yin not refused to take responsibility, had he not betrayed him, then how could it have ended like that? It definitely wasn't his master's fault.
"Ah, it's long past. I just hope he'll return soon. This time I won't be the same. I'll just … hold onto him as good as I can. I won't give up regardless of what happens. I'll fight for him. Nobody will take him away from me this time."
Xin Lan hastily drew the last line and cleared his throat. "It's finished."
"Really?" Jinde whirled around and hurried over to Xin Lan's side. He sat down next to him and grabbed his arm, his gaze unerringly landing on the face painted on the scroll, his heart fluttering.