Bai Mu didn't know about the soul-devouring or the soul-engraving dagger but judging from his father's tone neither could be anything good. He looked at Leng Jin Yu with a complicated gaze. His father hadn't managed to convince him so his own chance was slim but he felt that he should still give it a try. "Are you sure about this? I know you want to save him but if you were hurt because of that I'm sure he wouldn't like that either. If I imagine this was Nie Huang and me …" He shook his head. "The soul is different from the body or the blood. It should really be only a last resort. Furthermore, you would still need to have a part of both of your souls. After all, this array needs to accommodate both of you. And isn't your lover already in a bad condition? Then if he also had to cut off some of his soul …"
Leng Jin Yu shook his head. "No, that won't be necessary. My own soul will be enough."
Bai Mu shook his head. "I might not be as good with these arrays as my mother was but I don't think it works that way. The key needs to be something that the two of you share. Just like how my mother and I shared the same kind of blood and my father was able to carry some of it around. It would have to be the same with your soul. Sure, you could also put your soul into something that your lover can carry around but is it really worth it? Wouldn't it be better to just use your blood then?"
Leng Jin Yu smiled. "I'm thankful that you're trying to dissuade me. It means that you don't want me to come to harm. I do understand that. But I thought about this and it's really the best choice in this situation."
Qiang Yan slowed down his steps and waited for them to catch up. "What Bai Mu said just now has some merit though. Since it's your soul you won't have any trouble going in and getting out but what about your lover? And just how many parts do you want to split your soul into for this to work? You will need quite a bit that can be used as an anchor and then he would also need a part but you can't take everything either. After all, without a soul … you wouldn't live on. I hope you do realize that."
Leng Jin Yu sighed. He really hadn't wanted to talk about it but it seemed he wouldn't be able to get around it any longer. "The God of War need not worry. I know what I'm doing. In fact, Jinde is already carrying part of my soul. That is why I thought of this. It is something that we already share so taking a part to use it as the anchor is the best we can do. As long as nobody finds out about this and gets the rest of my soul, nothing will happen."
Qiang Yan furrowed his brows. "He carries part of your soul? But …" His brows knit together even more tightly. He couldn't understand. "Was this done because of the injury caused by the soul-devouring dagger? Some kind of countermeasure to make sure he can live on?" He couldn't imagine it. After all, it had been ages since Jinde had supposedly died. Back then, Leng Jin Yu shouldn't have even been born yet. No, he did believe that Leng Jin Yu had really only met Jinde in the mortal realm when he went to accompany Jing Yi for his trial. But then … why was the previous dragon king carrying part of his soul?
Leng Jin Yu smiled wryly and looked around to make sure that nobody was close by. "That part of my soul wasn't given in this life. It is something that has already been done in my previous life. That was before Jinde was injured in the first place. This is a sensitive issue though. It would be better if we didn't talk about it too much."
Qiang Yan couldn't help but raise his eyebrows. Even though Leng Jin Yu had said that it would be better not to talk about it, he couldn't just pretend he hadn't heard. "Your previous life? You mean to say that even in your previous life, you knew him? And there was a relationship between you that was close enough to warrant you to cut off part of your soul and give it to him? And how would you have even done that? Wouldn't you need the soul-engraving dagger to cut it off? There aren't that many other possibilities to do so. Shouldn't I know about this?"
Leng Jin Yu sighed. "There might not be so many other possibilities to do this for the gods but there are for the dragons."
"But you're human. Why would this …" Qiang Yan stopped when he saw Leng Jin Yu's gaze. "You … You mean to say you were a dragon in your past life?" He turned back around and pondered. Just who … It would need to be somebody who had been close to that person. Otherwise, how could something like this have happened?
Leng Jin Yu sighed and stepped closer. Before they talked about this any longer because the God of War wasn't able to let it go, it was probably better if he just came out right now. "Chun Yin. In my previous life, I was the dragon race's warrior Chun Yin."
Qiang Yan stared at him in a daze. While the God of Medicine admired Jinde for his ability in pill refinement, there probably wasn't any warrior in the dragon or the god race who didn't admire the dragon race's Chun Yin. And this person …
Qiang Yan stopped in his tracks and whirled around, staring at Leng Jin Yu and bewilderment. "Chun Yin?!"
Leng Jin Yu raised his brows and nodded. "That was his name."
"But …" Qiang Yan's gaze darted around and he tried to come to terms with what he had just thought. "But Chun Yin … He was Qiu Ling's father!"
Leng Jin Yu refrained from commenting on that.