"To understand this whole situation you need to have a general knowledge of the relationship between the people involved. The current demon and dragon king are of the same generation. The dragon king, Qiu Ling, is the son of your Grandmaster's past self — a warrior of the dragon race by the name of Chun Yin. His mother … was of the demon race, half-dragon, half-demon. Officially, she was the wife of the demon king of that time, Jian Heng. It was he who sent her to the side of Chun Yin. Originally, Chun Yin's partner should have been the past dragon king, Jinde."
Fei Bai Mu's expression turned subtle. From what Xin Lan was saying, she slowly started to realize that maybe it would have been better not to ask. This was something that they better shouldn't meddle in. Clearly, there were secrets involved that went far above and beyond what they could imagine. Still, since she had asked and Xin Lan was even willing to answer, she should listen until the end. Who knew if it wouldn't help with keeping their Grandmaster safe after all?
Xin Lan didn't stop either and continued to explain. "With Chun Yin marrying somebody else and having a child with her, his relationship with Jinde fell apart, which finally resulted in Jinde staying alone.
"He was always somebody who longed to have a family though. He might not have been able to be with Chun Yin but he still wanted to at least have the child that he wished for. That is where Jin Ling comes into play. Unfortunately, Jian Heng once again used the opportunity to deal him harm.
"Jin Ling is actually part dragon as well even though he is able to conceal it quite well. The problem is that despite being raised at Jinde's side for almost all his life, under the influence of Jian Heng, he developed some feelings for him that are not quite in line with his role.
"Jinde … took it quite hard. In the end, he had to banish him from the dragon realm. It has been a long time but Jin Ling still hasn't given up hope. He even believed that after Chun Yin's death, he would have some kind of chance with Jinde which … is ridiculous. He will never see him as anything else but his son."
There was some faint annoyance in Xin Lan's voice, that made Hua Lin Yu give him another look. This probably explained what exactly he had against that demon king. To treat the person that he had liked this way … it was probably hard for Xin Lan to stomach.
Fei Bai Mu didn't care too much about Xin Lan's involvement and just focused on the matter itself. "Then what about Jinde's injury? You said that it also had something to do with this?"
Xin Lan nodded again. "Looking back, it is quite obvious. This whole matter was orchestrated by Jian Heng from the very beginning: Sending Qiu Ling's mother over, separating the one person that would have made Jinde happy from him, then striking up a deal to have him hang his heart on Jin Ling, only to take that away from him as well, and finally even revealing to him that the person he loved most — Chun Yin — had already long been killed by the woman he had cheated on him with. All of that was part of Jian Heng's plan.
"In the end, he started a large-scale attack against the dragon realm when Jinde was at his lowest point. You can imagine what kind of toll going to war at that time took on him. Just living his own life was difficult enough, having to govern was hard but still doable, but war? From the very beginning, Jinde had to put his life on the line to make it through.
"The demon king was even more insidious though. In the immortal realms, there is a special pair of daggers, one used to engrave a soul, one used to eradicate a soul. As far as it was known at that time, if one was injured with the soul-devouring dagger, there is no help anymore.
"In that war, it was precisely this weapon that Jian Heng wielded. And he used some underhanded tricks to injure Jinde, which resulted in the injury he has been grappling with since long ago. That was why there was so much damage to his soul that he needed many millennia to heal from it."
Fei Bai Mu furrowed her brows. "But he did manage to heal."
"He did. Which still came at a price but was able to preserve his life and that was all that he wanted. He came to the mortal realm and hid, covering up his tracks so everyone believed him to be dead. But even though he had managed to kill Jian Heng in that battle, there was still Jin Ling out there and he still hadn't given up.
"I spent quite a bit of time in the demon realm, watching what he was doing. He would continuously send out people to search for him, unwilling to believe that he was truly dead. Even I thought he was. I don't know if I should say that Jin Ling trusted in Jinde's abilities more than I did or that he had already reached a degree of obsession far above anything I have ever seen. Most likely, it is the latter. He will never let him go."
Fei Bai Mu nodded. "In other words, no matter what we do, he would never accept another man at Jinde's side. Is that what you want to say?" In that case, their Grandmaster really was in trouble.
Xin Lan nodded. "By the time Jin Ling fell in love with Jinde, Chun Yin had already long been living with Qiu Ling's mother. Dragons usually only have one partner for their whole life. Chun Yin's death was the only hope that Jin Ling had to ever be with Jinde. Now that his reincarnation and Jinde have found each other and even got married, that hope has been dashed. Knowing Jin Ling, it is completely possible that this will push him over the edge. He will try everything he can to obtain Jinde. Killing his lover will be one of his top priorities because not only would that allow him to draw Jinde out, it would also free up the place at his side that he desires to take."
Fei Bai Mu nodded gravely. "I see. And there's nothing that we can do?"
Xin Lan shook his head. "The only thing you can do is to try and limit what he finds out. For example, it would be good if nobody was aware when Jinde and Leng Jin Yu leave the Yun Zou Sect to go to the Jian Yi Sect. But it will be difficult to ensure that. After all, Jinde's appearance won't be easy to hide. As long as some person that is working for Jin Ling sees him it will be over. And you have seen with that Qiguan Cheng Da or whatever his name is that it is pretty impossible to tell just who is working for the demons. It will not necessarily be one of their own. Jin Ling has many ways to ensure that people do his bidding."
Fei Bai Mu nodded, realizing that the situation really was even graver than expected. But she was able to grasp onto one point that might allow them to muddle through: A lot of this hinged on people actually seeing Jinde because he was the one who was difficult to hide.