The two of them kept quiet for a while before Leng Jin Yu turned to the side and raised his brows. "Was that what you came here for originally?"
Qiu Ling didn't know how to answer. "Originally … I think originally, I just wanted to flee. And I guess I promised him to ask you or my Master about cultivation. Since, well, he wants to hurry up. As I said."
"I see. Well, if you really don't want to get involved anymore, then it wouldn't be a good idea to ask, would it?"
Qiu Ling shook his head. "Then what? I can pretend not to have found either of you for a while but I can't do so forever. And I can't just vanish on him, can I? I'm afraid that might just motivate him to cultivate even faster so that he can go and look for me in the dragon realm. Ah, I did everything wrong."
Leng Jin Yu didn't say anything about that. Obviously, Qiu Ling was currently caught in a loop of his own thoughts. Whatever he said, it would go over Qiu Ling's head. He wouldn't listen at all. Instead, he looked at the courtyard from this perspective. To be honest, even though he had seen the image of this courtyard several times, it had always been from the same perspective. He had been the one leaning in the corridor, looking out at the courtyard and seeing the person below the tree. Because of that, he didn't actually know how the corridor looked. When he crafted it just now, he had taken a lot of freedom with filling in the blanks.
He glanced at Qiu Ling and then motioned over. "That corridor, did it look like that in reality too?"
Qiu Ling glanced up and his thoughts slowly returned to the place at hand. "Well, not much has changed since back then. The palace is like that. They built it one time and then for the next few generations, it'll just stay the same. It's a little strange. It makes you feel like … you don't have your own life. You're just one king in a row of many. Kind of sad, don't you think?"
"I was there." Leng Jin Yu didn't answer the question and instead took out the transmission stone that he had gotten from Bai Mu, handing it over to Qiu Ling. "Here. It's yours. You left it with Bai Mu and never got it back. I went to get it for you. You should make sure that it doesn't happen again. People won't be able to contact you if something happens."
"How much more can happen?" Even though he said so, Qiu Ling put the stone into his spatial ring. "Anyway, how much of the palace do you remember?"
"Nothing but this. But even that is …" He shook his head. "Not all of it was actually a memory. I only remembered one image and it wasn't complete. I only guessed about how the rest might look. If you want to, you can help me craft it. Jinde would probably like it."
Qiu Ling pursed his lips. "Are you sure? That is the place where you left him alone after you took your wife and child away, isn't it?"
Leng Jin Yu's lips twitched. Somehow, he felt that this person was trying to anger him on purpose. Was he trying to get back at him because he hadn't been able to give him an answer? But that was crazy. He didn't even know about his past life! Qiu Ling couldn't really expect him to be able to answer that kind of question nonetheless, could he?
Well, he was afraid that Qiu Ling expected exactly that. He was just that type of person. Well, it was also alright. Having him ask meant that they were getting slightly closer. Wasn't that what he had wanted? Actually, it was a pity that he couldn't help him more.
Leng Jin Yu turned to look at the person next to him and wondered if there really was nothing he could do for him. His problem was that there was only one person he could keep but he didn't dare to sacrifice either of them. It really would be best if he could keep out of that but it was hard to do at this point.
"Well, if you find a good excuse, then you could leave. Maybe there could be something happening in your realm that would make it necessary for you to go for a while? Even if it only takes a few days in the dragon realm, it would still be a few years here. A lot of things can happen in that amount of time. Even to a cultivator. If you'd like me to …" He gave a wry smile but still continued to speak.
"I might even be able to help you. Jinde isn't he anyway so I might as well use my time for something else. I could make my Master send Jing Yi on some mission. He might have managed to reach a higher level but his foundation in regards to actually using his cultivation is very shallow. If he was sent on a mission alone now without much help, it's very likely that he wouldn't come back."
Qiu Ling looked over. "So you're basically saying that I should abandon him and let you kill him?"
Leng Jin Yu shook his head. "Not killing him. Just … creating favorable circumstances. You wouldn't have to be there. And if his luck is good, he might even be able to get out safely. And however things go, he wouldn't know that it had anything to do with you. That would solve one of your problems, wouldn't it? Depending on the outcome, you can consider what to tell him. If Jing Yi lives, you've never done anything. If Jing He comes back, then it was your idea."
Qiu Ling looked at the person next to him and shook his head. "Are you sure you were born human in this life? That sounds quite evil. It's like what a demon would say. It couldn't be that mother latched onto your soul, could it?"
Leng Jin Yu clicked his tongue. "What are you even talking about? It was just an idea. You don't have to do it. I just … wanted to help you. I'm sorry for what you're going through. That shouldn't have happened."
Qiu Ling nodded. "It shouldn't. But it's too late now. Well, I'll think about that idea of yours." He couldn't help but feel empty when he said that though. Even if that wouldn't mean that he'd have to kill Jing Yi with his own two hands, it would still mean that he was standing by while he knew that something happened to his beloved. He honestly didn't think he would be able to do that.