Speaking of Qiu Ling … Xiang Yong was spot on with his assumptions. The dragon king couldn't have cared less about what was happening with either the Yun Zou Sect or the demon-hunting sects so he hadn't bothered about this trial. On the other hand, he also didn't care too much about the spirit beast tribe. In his opinion, they might as well keep to themselves. Why should he have to reign over yet another group of people when he already hadn't wanted to do so for the first one? That didn't strike him as a very good idea.
Anyway, he wasn't thinking about that at the moment. No, Qiu Ling, the mighty dragon king, was currently sulking. Unfortunately, nobody was paying attention to him so he could only sulk alone.
Jing Yi was currently sitting next to Shao Hai, listening to his recount of what had happened when he and Xiao Dong had been imprisoned by the Chun Feng Sect, as well as how they had been doing in the years before that when Jing Yi hadn't been in the Yun Zou Sect so that they hadn't been able to see each other. In fact, some time ago, Shao Hai had even reached over and taken Jing Yi's hand for support.
Qiu Ling furrowed his brows and looked at that offensive hand, picturing in his mind how he would go over and pluck it off. He might even say some mean words while he did so to drive home the point that this was his lover and that this stupid child should keep his hands off!
Unfortunately, he couldn't do that and he knew that full well. His beloved was very much focused on Shao Hai and didn't seem to feel like he should pay him any attention. This was really maddening!
Pursing his lips, Qiu Ling looked around for something he could do. He definitely couldn't let this go on any longer. Maybe he could make that Shao Hai have an accident or something? That would solve this problem for quite some time!
He pondered the feasibility of this option but finally had to let go of that plan. If that Shao Hai actually got hurt, then his beloved might just run to take care of him while he couldn't do it on his own. Then he wouldn't have solved the problem at all and even made it worse. After all, that guy would definitely try to take advantage of the situation! No, he wouldn't give him the opportunity to do so.
With that not being an option, Qiu Ling just sat down next to Jing Yi, taking his other hand. Hmph. This guy thought he could get close to his beloved and replace him? Not on his watch! He would make sure that his beloved always remembered that he was here. Thinking like that, Qiu Ling interlaced his fingers with Jing Yi's and then gave him a hopeful look.
Jing Yi let his lover play around with his fingers but didn't even glance over to see what was going on. Instead, he was still focused on Shao Hai. "Then what about Xiao Dong now? Even if he wasn't directly hurt, that does sound as if he had a really rough time in there."
Shao Hai nodded, his gaze only slipping to Qiu Ling for a moment before he reached out with his other hand, holding onto Jing Yi tightly. "I have no idea. The people who freed us took him away afterward. I didn't know what I should do. Honestly, I'm a bit worried about him. But since they saved us, I guess they shouldn't want to harm him? They also mentioned that they would bring him back home. So I guess … We don't need to worry about him?" He did seem a bit unsure about that, making Jing Yi worried as well.
"That really doesn't sound good." He slightly furrowed his brows, wondering if there was anything they could do. Shao Hai and Xiao Dong were his only friends from childhood days. Even though they hadn't seen each other in a long time, he still felt close to them. If something happened to one of them …
Qiu Ling's expression lit up when he saw Jing Yi's expression and he hurriedly hugged his beloved from behind, resting his chin on his shoulder. "No need to worry, my love. He was just brought back to the dragon realm. He'll be with his parents right now. If you want me to, then I can contact them to see how he's doing." He nuzzled Jing Yi's head, trying to pull him back at the same time so that stupid child would let go of him.
Jing Yi turned to look at Qiu Ling, raising his brows. "You can do that?"
Qiu Ling gave a bright smile and then kissed his cheek, feeling happy for once about the fact that he was the dragon king. "But of course! Do you want me to do it right now?"
Jing Yi looked at Qiu Ling's ingratiating smile and then turned back to look at Shao Hai. Ah, he could see what was going on here. Well, he did want to know what was up with Xiao Dong though. And anyway, Qiu Ling was his lover. Reassuring him a bit really wasn't a problem. "It would be great if you could do that for me." He took his hand back from Shao Hai, turned to Qiu Ling, and cupped his cheeks, pecking his lips. "Thank you."
Qiu Ling beamed and happily took out his transmission stone, only hesitating for a moment before he contacted Yi Zan.
Ah, it couldn't be helped. While he wanted to contact Xiao Dong's family directly, he wasn't able to do so. After all, while he had the kind of the transmission stone that could be used to contact almost everybody, that still required knowing the person and the type of transmission stone they had. As for Ai Hua … Yeah, he had no idea.
Thus, he could only go the roundabout way and contact her brother to ask about his nephew. Anyway, this should also work out. And his beloved would still be happy and ignore that other child. This really seemed like the perfect solution to him.