Once again, Wu Ya was at a loss for words. He had expected quite a few things, mostly that maybe they had fallen in the war against the demons but as it turned out, there had been such a story behind it. He definitely hadn't expected that. And to think he had so casually asked Qiu Ling about it … He really felt bad now. "I should probably go and apologize to him."
Xin Lan looked away, feeling a bit like just keeping his mouth shut so Qiu Ling would have to deal with that. But then again, he really wanted this guy to leave and he didn't trust that Qiu Ling wouldn't maybe blurt something out that he shouldn't. "To be honest, I wouldn't do that. Just bringing it up once has probably already made him remember quite a few things that he'd rather forget about. If you continue to harp on it, that wouldn't be good. So I suggest you don't even try it. It is better to just leave him be. Anyway, there isn't anything more to know about this."
"But … then who killed them?"
Xin Lan sighed. "Who could it have been? Naturally, it was somebody of the demon realm."
"Who? Since the two of them were my friends, I should go and avenge them."
"You honestly think that Qiu Ling wouldn't have done that himself? He is the dragon king. I think that speaks enough about his strength. Naturally, he is able to kill the person who has done this to his parents."
Wu Ya kept quiet at that but he still furrowed his brows, obviously having a very hard time dealing with this.
Xin Lan sighed. "I'm sure that this is hard to take in. Especially since you haven't seen the two of them for a long time and didn't expect that this would be the outcome. But still, this is just how matters are right now. You will have to learn to deal with it. Just like Qiu Ling also needed to learn to deal with it."
Wu Ya nodded. "Yes, I know. It's just … I feel a little bitter knowing that something happened to them and I wasn't there. If I had known that Chun Yin had a son and he was in trouble, then I definitely would have helped him."
Speaking of which … "What became of Qiu Ling after that? Die he return to the capital city and then stayed with Jinde?" He certainly hoped that that was it. After all, Chun Yin and Jinde had been close originally. Whatever had happened because of the dragon realm's throne or that woman, it shouldn't have shaken their deep friendship this badly, right? No, he didn't believe that Jinde would actually refuse to continue to raise Chun Yin's son after he wasn't able to do it himself anymore. That just wasn't the type of behavior a person like him would show.
Xin Lan sighed again. This person was really troublesome. Why was he asking so many questions? "He didn't. Qiu Ling didn't return to the dragon realm's capital for a long time. In fact, nobody knew what had happened to Chun Yin and his family until he died. It was only when Jinde died that he asked me to go and check to make sure of it because there had been some rumors.
"He told me that he wanted Qiu Ling to follow him onto the throne. So I went and found out about everything. Unfortunately, it was quite a bit of time until Qiu Ling really became the dragon king. But anyway, since then, it has once again been a long time. Things are over now. There's no need to open old wounds." That was true whether it was Qiu Ling or Jinde. It was best to not speak about this matter in front of either of them. It had been bad enough.
Wu Ya sighed but still nodded. "I see. It's really a tragic story. I wish I had known."
"Nobody did so there's no reason to blame yourself. Anyway, that should be everything you want to know, right?"
Wu Ya wasn't too sure if that was really everything he wanted to know but he could see that Xin Lan was slowly getting impatient. Obviously, this person didn't want to tell him anything more. He shouldn't try his patience any longer. "Well, I guess so. Anyway, you're probably staying in the Yun Zou Sect as well, aren't you?"
"I was only here to deliver something. After this, I'll leave."
"Oh." Wu Ya wasn't too sure what to make of that. He really would have liked to ask some more things. Even though his friends were already gone, it would've been nice to hear a little more about how their life had been in these last years. But if that was impossible, then he couldn't change it. Well, maybe there was at least something he would be able to do for Chun Yin's son. Speaking of which … "Did Jinde have children?"
Xin Lan's expression froze but he finally shook his head. "He didn't."
"Really? That's strange. He really was such a beauty. I would've thought he'd have married pretty early and have lots of beautiful children."
"Well, maybe he would have if a certain somebody didn't marry someone else." Xin Lan got up, not bothering to say anything more about the matter. Anyway, it was bad enough. Just thinking back to the time when Jinde had raised Jin Ling … No, he didn't want to.
What he wanted to remember … It was mostly the short time before he had actually known who Jinde was and before he had realized that there was somebody else in his life. It would have been great if things could've gone on like that.
Unfortunately, it had been impossible from the very beginning. But he couldn't say that he was surprised. That asshole from the High Heavens had always had fun fucking around with his life like that. In a world where he was the only one of his kind, there just wasn't anybody for him.