The other disciple was still in a foul mood when he found Niu Hai. "Senior martial brother Niu!"
Niu Hai who had just been practicing lowered his Dao and turned around, raising his brows. "What's the matter? Did something happen?"
The other disciple pouted. "Some rude guy came by and asked to see you."
"A rude guy? Did he say what his name was?"
"No. His lover is cute though."
Niu Hai's brows climbed up even higher. Did he know any rude person that had a cute lover? At the very least, he couldn't remember anything like that at the moment. "Then did he say what he wanted?"
The disciple shook his head. "Only that he wanted to speak to you. Ah, well, actually, it was the cute one that wanted to speak to you. He was just being rude."
Niu Hai was even more confused but hearing that a cute person wanted to see him did make him feel that he should at least go and check it out. It was a pity that this person was already in a relationship but it was still nice to see someone pretty. "Well, lead the way then. Maybe it's something important."
The disciple nodded and led him over to the entrance of the blade division where the other disciples were still facing off against Jing Yi and Qiu Ling who in turn ignored them.
Niu Hai had on a wry smile when he saw the other disciples acting like that but his expression changed drastically when he saw the two people on the other side. "Jing He?!"
Jing Yi's brows twitched and he turned toward Niu Hai with a slightly strained expression. "Senior martial brother Niu. I hope we didn't bother you while you were doing anything important."
Niu Hai hurriedly shook his head. "Of course not! Even if, I definitely don't mind putting that off if it's for you." He might have lost against Qiu Ling back then but that didn't mean that he didn't still have some kind of hope. Anyway, he had worked very hard in the past years. Who knew if he wouldn't be able to win if they had a rematch now?
Qiu Ling glanced at him, narrowing his eyes as if he could guess just what Niu Hai was thinking there. He'd give him some time to get rid of that ridiculous thought himself. If he still didn't do it by then, he'd straighten him out a bit and make him forget.
While Qiu Ling was already considering something like this, Niu Hai leaned closer and gave Jing Yi a bright smile. "When did you come back? You left without saying anything back then. I was worried about you."
Jing Yi held back from getting too close considering the kind of relationship Niu Hai and Qiu Ling had had back then and just kept to the facts or, well, at the very least to what they had established as facts with Yue Lin before. "You might remember that Qiu Ling talked to the Grandmaster back then. He actually gave us a mission later on. That was why we had to leave so suddenly. Unfortunately, some things went wrong so it took a longer time than expected and we could only return now."
Niu Hai nodded, his expression grave. "I hope you're alright."
Jing Yi wanted to answer but Qiu Ling already jumped at the opportunity to insert himself into the conversation.
He pulled Jing Yi into his arms and gave Niu Hai a bright smile. "But of course! You can be sure that I would definitely protect him well regardless of what happens. Even if something happened to him while I wasn't around, I would have definitely made sure that he got back to full health. There's really no need for an outsider like you to worry."
Jing Yi's lips twitched. Did he really have to be like this? He glanced at Qiu Ling but seeing his expression, he also couldn't bring himself to say anything. Anyway, Qiu Ling had always been like this. He could hardly expect of him to suddenly change. And, actually, it was quite nice to see him behave like he usually had without even a single thought of Jing He. If it could always be like this … He would definitely prefer that.
He turned back to Niu Hai and nodded. "Qiu Ling is right. He helped me out of some difficult situations. Anyway, we're back now for the time being. But I guess we'll have to leave very soon though. I just thought that it would be nice to come and see you again. After all, we really did leave a little surprisingly back then. I hope you didn't mind too much."
Niu Hai shook his head. In fact, thinking back to how he had lost to Qiu Ling back then, he actually felt that it was better they had left. He really wouldn't have had any face to see Jing Yi again after losing so badly.
But still, he wasn't willing to give up this time around so easily. "Well, since you'll be staying for some days, how about your lover and I have a rematch? I feel like I've learned quite a lot in the past years. Who knows if it will be different this time around?"
"That's …" Jing Yi really wanted to reject this. After all, he knew that there was no way Niu Hai would ever be able to beat Qiu Ling. After all, Qiu Ling wasn't even human. The kind of strength he had … There was no way somebody like Niu Hai would ever be able to make up for that.
Before Jing Yi could say anything, Qiu Ling's eyes were already sparkling with happiness though. "But of course! If it's so important to you, then I totally don't mind giving you the opportunity. You just can't be sad and play the victim when you've lost again. After all, you were the one who proposed it."
Niu Hai clenched his fists when he heard Qiu Ling taunt him like that. If there had been any chance for Jing Yi to talk him out of this, it was definitely gone by now.