Jinde's golden brows very slowly climbed up higher and he finally turned to his husband to see if he had heard the very same thing he had.
Leng Jin Yu nodded and then turned back to Fei Bai Mu. "May I ask what this matter is about?" He didn't believe that she would just ask out of the blue. No, there had to be a reason for this.
Anyway, it would probably put Jinde on the spot if he wasn't given a reason for this. After all, he and Xin Lan were very close. He naturally wouldn't just offer information about him if there wasn't a reason to. Everything else would be misusing the trust that Xin Lan put in him. After all, he also wouldn't want him to do the same. Some general information might still be alright but who knew what exactly it was that Fei Bai Mu wanted to know?
Fei Bai Mu sighed and leaned back, rubbing her forehead. "I really don't know how to put this but … he has proposed to my youngest disciple."
The eyes of the two people sitting across from her widened and they shared yet another glance, the surprise in their gazes even more pronounced than before.
Jinde turned back to her, the shock still visible on his face. "Come again? He proposed to …" He hesitated for a moment but finally couldn't help himself. "To marry him?" This was probably the most unexpected thing he could imagine. "Are we really talking about marriage here or is it a proposal to … a fight or something?"
Fei Bai Mu smiled wryly. "It really is a proposal for marriage. In fact, he has mentioned this once when Xiao Yu was still young. I wasn't quite sure if he was being serious but the two of them came back yesterday and made it official.
"This matter seems to be not quite as simple as I thought at first either. He did mention that he made a promise to somebody who my disciple originally was. I'm not quite sure what exactly that means but I guess there has to be some kind of fate between them."
Jinde slightly narrowed his eyes. "Somebody he originally was? Someone he promised something to?" Thinking about it, there weren't many options. It could've been somebody who died and was reborn but then, Xin Lan normally wouldn't know who they were now. After all, reincarnation took quite some time and it wasn't like anybody but the supreme ruler actually knew who was reincarnated as who. In other words … "That person should be a trueborn god then. Somebody currently going through their trial."
Leng Jin Yu raised his brows at that, feeling that it was quite remarkable. "That is basically the same situation that Qiu Ling is in right now, isn't it?"
Jinde flicked a glance at him but shook his head. "Not quite. Qiu Ling and Jing He were already engaged from what I know. And he didn't actually promise him anything in regard to the trial but just followed him on his own accord because he didn't want to leave him alone. It is quite the normal thing to do for a dragon that bound his soul. Xin Lan though …" He shook his head once more. "Never mind binding his soul, I haven't even known that he had a lover in the Nine Heavens. This is quite strange."
Fei Bai Mu nodded at that. "This is what I thought as well. Back then, when we were holding the trial of the demon-hunting sects, he was still going after some person from the spirit beast tribe. I don't believe that he suddenly fell in love with somebody. And if this was a promise he gave to somebody even before that, then Hua Lin Yu was already born at the time. I just can't understand it. Obviously, there are no feelings involved. So why marry? I'm really worried about my disciple."
Leng Jin Yu slightly furrowed his brows. He could only imagine one reason for this. He turned to Jinde and gave him a long look, making his husband slightly raise his brows.
"What's the matter?"
"Do you think that maybe Xin Lan did this for you?"
Jinde had no idea what his husband was even talking about. "But nobody even knows that I'm alive. I really don't see how this could have anything to do with me."
Leng Jin Yu's brows drew further together. This was true but … he still didn't think that Xin Lan would take this much initiative for anything but Jinde. "Well, the person doesn't need to know you necessarily.
"Remember how he brought the things over to help you heal your soul? Maybe one of those was traded for that promise. The trueborn gods have trials they need to finish and maybe some of them are just as worried as Jing He was for his. Maybe in this case, it is somebody that isn't his necessarily hung up on his own lover but that doesn't just want to get involved anybody either. I think it would be possible. And maybe that person somehow had one of the things that Xin Lan later gave you. He could have done something like that. It would be a lot like him."
Jinde nodded slowly. "Maybe you're right. It would make sense."
Fei Bai Mu wasn't quite sure she understood what was going on. She looked from one person to the other and finally couldn't help but ask. "What does that mean for Xiao Yu?"
Jinde sighed and folded his hands on the table, his fingers drumming against the top. "We can't be sure about this matter. But it really is likely. In this case, your disciple is the trial of a trueborn god.
"They will be reborn as a human, live their life like this, and when they die one day, they will awaken again in the Nine Heavens. It is a usual occurrence. And I think it is not quite often that somebody will make such a deal before it but it could happen.
"In any case, this is what the trueborn god must have wanted. So I think there is not necessarily a reason to go against this. Anyway, Xin Lan's status in the dragon race is quite high. If the person knew who he was … maybe they have been idolizing him. It could be important to them that it is him specifically."
Fei Bai Mu slightly furrowed her brows but nodded. "I think I do understand that. It is just that I'm worried about Hua Lin Yu. Right now, he is a mortal. Whatever was in his original life doesn't have much bearing on this one. And I'm only worried about the human he currently is, not whatever god he was before and will be in the future."
Jinde sighed. "I do understand that. But I'm afraid there isn't much that you can do. I'm not quite sure why Xin Lan is doing this but I think can assure you that he is somebody that will keep his promises. At the very least, he has always done so when it concerned me. I don't think he would be different with anybody else."
Leng Jin Yu gave him a slightly doubtful gaze but didn't say anything else to it. Anyway, there really was nothing they could do. Why should he worry Fei Bai Mu even more?