Jinde sighed. "Well, never mind that. Tian is what his name suggests: Heaven, the one who governs all immortal realms and judges our races. There is an old story about how he fell in love with a god but things didn't turn out well and that god finally fell. To a certain degree all three races were involved in his fall and thus Tian cursed all of us.
"I don't know if you can imagine this. Three races with just a few people as exceptions were cursed just like that, a lot of their powers taken from them and constraints placed on them that they didn't know before.
"I don't know about the specifics of the curses that were placed on the gods and demons. I only know that the gods lost most of their physical powers but could keep all their magic while the demons and dragons lost part of their magic but kept their physical strength."
"Both the demons and the dragons?"
Jinde nodded. "Mn, even though the dragons don't like to admit it but our races are of the same origin. Once, there was just one race and it only separated into the demons and dragons after a long time."
Leng Jin Yu felt intrigued. He had managed to gather quite a bit of information about the gods in the short time after his ascension but he knew next to nothing about the demons and dragons. Especially the latter was maddening considering he had been a dragon in his past life and was now married to one.
He sighed. "It's a pity I can only remember a few images from my past life. I guess a lot of things would be easier if I was like the Son of Heaven and had managed to gather those memories."
Jinde reached up and cupped his cheek, his golden gaze saddened. "I'm sorry. It's my fault."
"What are you saying?" Leng Jin Yu hugged his lover's waist. "This isn't your fault. If anything, it would be mine because of what I did in my past life. Had I stayed true to you, I might not have died yet."
"That's not it." Jinde lowered his gaze and sighed. "This actually has to do with the curse I told you about. Since we've already come to talk about it … Maybe I should tell you about this too. Dragons … can only fall in love once. That is part of the curse Tian placed on us. I can't say for sure how it happens, if it's destined or more of a coincidence, but for every one of us, there is that one person we will be drawn to. "And sometimes when we've fallen in love and the time is right we will exchange a part of our soul." He looked up and took Leng Jin Yu's hand, placing it on his chest.
"I didn't know but Chun Yin … he had already given part of his soul to me. I guess it was that night before he found out she was pregnant even though I can't say for sure. Normally, as partners, we should have died together. In that case, the part of your soul you had given to me would have been returned to you. But unfortunately, I found out too late and failed to kill myself in time."
Leng Jin Yu gently framed Jinde's face with his hands and shook his head. "Don't say anything like that. Don't mention killing yourself. I don't want to hear anything like that. You … you should stay alive. I'm sure Chun Yin would have wanted that because I too would wish that for you if anything happened to me."
Jinde shook his head. "No, you don't understand. That isn't how dragons work. Losing Chun Yin … it hurt. More than you can probably imagine. As a dragon, your destined one is everything to you. Even more so if you are bound through your souls. I guess I could say that I was lucky not to have bound my soul to him too. Otherwise …" He shook his head. "Then again I wish I had. We could have died together, reincarnated together and maybe we would have been reborn as dragons then."
Leng Jin Yu still shook his head. "I wouldn't want you to die."
Jinde chuckled. "It's alright. I lived. Although … things didn't go as expected. And that is also why we're like this now."
Leng Jin Yu's brows drew together. He didn't understand what Jinde meant.
"Those images you saw were very likely parts of Chun Yin's memory. It's probably because you managed to ascend already so your spiritual awareness should be high. You somehow established a weak connection with the part of your soul that I am still carrying. Unfortunately, it isn't enough to draw out all your memories." Jinde sighed. "Normally, I would just need to give a bit of it back. Since you were reincarnated it wouldn't even have any consequences. You would just be able to remember. Unfortunately … that isn't possible with the state my soul is in."
"Your soul?" Leng Jin Yu frowned.
Jinde nodded. "Yes. The injury I mentioned? It wasn't to my body although it had an influence on that. Rather what was injured was my soul. What I said before when Qiu Ling was here … I didn't want to admit how old I actually am. I know that … is dumb. You're not that shallow. I just … felt a little insecure with how that boy kissed you right before and … us not being married yet." He reached up and stroked Leng Jin Yu's cheek. "I hope you won't hold it against me."
"Of course not. I just … I don't understand. Do you want to say your soul was injured? But how …"
"The soul-devouring dagger. In that war against the demons, I fought against demon king Jian Heng and he managed to injure me with the soul-devouring dagger. My soul … it slowly dissolved on its own."