The first thing Qiu Ling saw when he came to was a row of vials filled with resin. He closed his eyes again and tried to open them once more but the vials were still there. Qiu Ling stared at them some more before he finally sat up. Leng Jin Yu wasn't sitting far away from him. He had his eyes closed but his sword was in his hands as if he was prepared to draw it at a moment's notice.
Qiu Ling furrowed his brows, got up and walked over. "I'm awake." He waited for Leng Jin Yu to open his eyes and get up but contrary to his expectations nothing of like that happened.
Instead, Leng Jin Yu nodded and put his sword down beside him. "That's good. You can continue to rest some more or go train your sword arts or something." His breath evened out afterward as if he had fallen asleep.
Qiu Ling blinked and stared at his so-called father in a daze. What was this guy doing? Hadn't he heard him? He reached out and poked Leng Jin Yu's shoulder. "Heh, I said I'm awake. We can leave now and search for the next ingredient. Didn't we get enough of the resin already?"
Leng Jin Yu sighed in resignation and cracked his eyes open. "Longjun. You might be awake now but you were out for three whole days. Who do you think was keeping watch the whole time?"
Qiu Ling raised his brows and pointed at the person in front of him. Who else could it have been? He didn't feel that that should make any difference though. "What were you keeping watch for? I was merely sleeping for a while. What could have happened?"
Leng Jin Yu sighed once again. "What about the demons? Considering your position I'm sure they'd love to take the chance to kill you while you were unguarded."
Qiu Ling pursed his lips. "But nothing happened, did it?"
Leng Jin Yu rubbed his face, giving yet another sigh. "No, and it's your luck that nothing happened. Even though I've ascended, it hasn't been long since then. I might be able to win against some of them but those with a higher standing in the demon realm would definitely be above my ability to take care of." It didn't help that he had spent most of his time since his ascension back in the mortal realm. How was he supposed to grow stronger in this environment? His body needed the nurturing of the Nine Heavens' thick spiritual energy.
Qiu Ling merely waved his concerns away. "Then you could have just woken me up."
Leng Jin Yu didn't bother to reply to that. It wasn't that he hadn't tried to wake Qiu Ling up. After the dragon king didn't wake up after a whole day, he did try. It hadn't worked though. Qiu Ling had just swatted away his hand and turned to the other side, mumbling something about his beloved with a silly grin on his lips. He had probably had sweet dreams.
Leng Jin Yu closed his eyes again. "Maybe I was wrong then. I still stayed up all the time and only rested a bit. I need at least a few hours of sleep before we can continue."
Qiu Ling grumbled in dissatisfaction but still sat down next to Leng Jin Yu. He pulled his knees to his chest and stared into the distance as well as he could in the forest. Unfortunately, there wasn't much to see. There were only trees and then more trees behind them. When he was lucky he could see a shrub or two between them. At the roots of one of the trees a small flower was growing, the bright yellow petals like patches of light.
Qiu Ling sighed and picked up the sword that Leng Jin Yu had put down. This … It didn't seem to be from the mortal realm. Instead, it showed the typical craft of the dragon realm. In that case, the sword should have been given by the old geezer. Mn, he really treated his new old lover well.
Qiu Ling took the sword out of the scabbard and brushed over the blade with his fingers. This was indeed a good weapon. For somebody like Leng Jin Yu who had only recently ascended and still needed to learn to match up with the people born into the immortal races, this type of weapon could make the difference between life and death. "Eh." Qiu Ling nudged Leng Jin Yu with his elbow. "When did the old geezer give this to you? Did you guys have some kind of anniversary?"
Leng Jin Yu's eyes cracked open once again. There was no way he would be able to sleep for even an hour with this person beside him, was there? He turned toward him and once again rubbed his face. "Longjun, is that really what you want to ask? If not, then I advise you to pose your real question now."
Qiu Ling pursed his lips. "I was merely asking."
Leng Jin Yu narrowed his eyes. "Then you wouldn't mind if I don't answer, would you?"
Next to him, Qiu Ling went rigid. This certainly wasn't the answer he had expected. Since when would this guy merely brush off what he said? "I'm your son. Can't I ask about your matters? I've never held back from telling you about how Jing He and I were doing either."
Leng Jin Yu snorted. "You've never held back from telling anybody how you and the Son of Heaven are doing. And you have never asked about the matters between Jinde and me. So why don't you drop the act and tell me what you really want?"
Qiu Ling put the sword back into the scabbard and handed it over to Leng Jin Yu. "What I want … I'm afraid there's no way for you to give that to me. So why waste time talking?"