Yuchi Bing Xia closed his eyes and stretched out his senses. There were hundreds of arrays in their sect, each of them with a distinctive task. If this was just one of the smaller ones that were used for convenience's sake, it wouldn't matter too much. They could just ignore the matter. Else … Ah, he didn't want to think about it! Their sect definitely didn't have the resources to repair one of the big arrays right now!
He first swept the miscellaneous small arrays with his senses but all of them were intact. His heart sank. Oh, no. Don't tell him his worst nightmare was really coming true!
He frowned and swept the other arrays with his spiritual sense. He cursed. This couldn't be true! He refused to believe this! Why was it the array separating the inner and outer sect grounds?! That was the second biggest, second most expensive array of their sect! And it was their second line of defense in case they were attacked! How could this array just stop working?
Had they already been attacked without him noticing? Had someone broken through their first line of defense with none being the wiser? Could he still save the disciples?
Yuchi Bing Xia wanted to hurry outside but a sudden guest swept into his study.
"Sect Master, I brought Jing'er over!"
Qiu Ling happily smiled while Jing Yi's face flushed red. Was Qiu Ling doing this on purpose? It was bad enough to refuse to just call him by his name normally but why did he have to call him Jing'er in front of the Sect Master? Well, considering it was Qiu Ling he could probably be happy that Qiu Ling hadn't announced that he brought 'his beloved' over.
Yuchi Bing Xia looked from one person to the other. Weren't this … Grandmaster Zhangsun's disciple and his fiance … no, ex-fiance Zhong Jing Yi? Why were they here? Well, whatever, he couldn't care about that now. He had to take care of the matter with the array first! "Ah, Qiu Ling, you've certainly come for something very important but I'm sorry. I can't deal with it at the moment."
Qiu Ling blinked. Couldn't deal with it at the moment? But his beloved wanted something from the Sect Master!
Seeing Qiu Ling frown like that Yuchi Bing Xia winced. Why did their Yun Zou Sect only have so few talents? If this was still in their heyday he never would have to justify himself in front of a disciple! "There is something wrong with one of our arrays."
Qiu Ling turned to look at Jing Yi proudly. "See? I told you it was old and stopped functioning!"
Jing Yi's face turned even redder and he looked away. As he had feared Qiu Ling had actually destroyed one of the arrays the sect used. Just how did he expect to explain this?
The Sect Master looked at Qiu Ling blankly. What was this disciple saying? "You … saw that something was wrong with the array?" Don't tell him this talent was also proficient in arrays. Well, it wouldn't be too strange. After all, the Grandmaster had also some attainment in that area. It wouldn't be strange for him to teach him at least the basics.
Qiu Ling snorted. "How couldn't I? It was so obvious!"
He crossed his arms, clearly indignant, but Yuchi Bing Xia had no idea why this disciple felt insulted. It couldn't be that his question had been this insensitive, could it? He turned to Zhong Jing Yi to get some feedback but the young man sheepishly averted his gaze again. The Sect Master grew even more confused. "So, in the end, just what happened?"
"Tch! That dumb array! Your sect actually used it for so long that it stopped functioning. When my beloved wanted to go to the inner sect it actually prevented him from doing so!"
Jing Yi lowered his head. There it was. He had actually called him 'my beloved' in front of the Sect Master. Jing Yi might have been embarrassed already but Qiu Ling was far from finished with his tirade.
"You clearly gave me that jade pendant for Jing'er yesterday. Isn't it used for opening that array? But it didn't work at all and he had to wait at the outer sect even though he's an inner sect disciple now. That's unacceptable! If I didn't know any better, I would assume you don't want him to be part of the inner sect.
"Well, anyway, my beloved was extremely lucky that I was in the vicinity. Quite coincidentally, of course," he added for the sake of Jing Yi. He definitely couldn't let his beloved know that he had been trailing him from the moment he stepped out of his room. "When he told me what had happened I knew immediately that that array had just grown too old and wasn't working properly anymore so I was so nice to take care of it." Qiu Ling nodded with a satisfied smile.
Hear that, my beloved? I did such a good thing for your sect! Don't you just feel like getting back together with me?
Jing Yi tried to inconspicuously raise a hand and covered half his face. Could he still bring up an excuse to leave the Sect Master's palace? He really couldn't bear this any longer! The Sect Master would certainly ask just what Qiu Ling had done to 'take care' of the array. There was nothing they could say in apology!
Yuchi Bing Xia indeed reacted as Jing Yi predicted. "What do you mean you took care of it?"
"Well, obviously, I took it down. An array that hinders the inner sect disciples from entering the inner sect definitely can't be kept."
"Ah?" Yuchi Bing Xia wasn't even able to say a single sentence. His brain just refused to accept what he had just heard. This disciple … he certainly couldn't have said that he had destroyed one of their arrays right now. He never could have said that he had destroyed the second biggest, second most expensive array of their sect. He definitely couldn't have.
Qiu Ling raised his hands in a magnanimous gesture. "You don't have to thank me."