Chapter 137 - Confessing His Love

The men on the stage fell silent. The people around Qiu Ling and Jing Yi stopped their whispering, too. Somehow sensing the peculiar atmosphere behind them the rest of the audience turned around and stared at the middle of that ring of silence. They hadn't heard what Qiu Ling said but seeing him holding Jing Yi's hands with such an earnest gaze they felt that something major was going on. When nobody looked at the fights anymore and the cheers stopped, the disciples dueling also couldn't help looking over and stopping their fights.

Somehow, two words had been enough to shut the whole venue up and make Qiu Ling and Jing Yi the center of attention.

Qiu Ling didn't care, though. He looked at Jing Yi with a wildly pounding heart. How would his beloved react? That was all he cared about.

The boy's lips moved but he didn't get any sound out. He wasn't a child anymore even though one could hardly call him an adult at barely fifteen years of age. He understood what Qiu Ling was saying there, after all, Shao Hai spoke often enough about how he would marry him in the future. He had never paid those words any heed. Sure, he liked Shao Hai but he didn't have any other feelings for him. Spending time with him was alright but he couldn't picture a future in which they would live together how his parents had done.

Now, the person saying these words had changed and he couldn't keep being as indifferent as he had been before. That was the hero he had just started to admire! Why would he ask him something like this?

Shouldn't a hero not care about love at all? Or … as far as the stories went that Shao Hai and Xiao Dong had told him there were some heroes that indeed fell in love. But the person they loved should be a beautiful maiden they would care for their whole life! Why was this man asking him now?

Jing Yi took a deep breath. He looked at his hands in the bigger ones of this man and then gazed up into those dark eyes again. "Why are you asking me?"

Ah! Qiu Ling's gaze intensified. This reaction, it was too tempting! He gripped his hands a little tighter and inched closer. There was hardly any space separating them anymore. If he concentrated, he might just be able to feel his beloved's heartbeat.

"I just took one look at you and heard you speak one word and I knew you were the only one for me. It's either you or I will stay alone for the rest of my life. In fact, what is this life worth without you? I might just end it altogether."

He lifted one hand and cupped Jing Yi's cheek. Indeed. Without him … he wouldn't want to live anymore. Just remembering that time in the nine heavens when he stood in the high hall and thought that Jing He had been assassinated … His whole world had come crashing down on him. He couldn't let him go. Not in this life and not in any other.

If Jing He died, he might as well follow him to the yellow springs and reincarnate together with him, entering a new life where they could have a chance of being together again. He didn't worry that he might not be able to find him there. Their souls would call out to each other. They were fated to be one.

Jing Yi looked at the man in front of him, his chest tightening at his words. He freed his hands from his grip and gripped the lapel of his own robe. Why did he feel like this? He couldn't understand!

Qiu Ling saw the confusion in his eyes and lightly smiled. He took Jing Yi's hands back and pressed them against his own chest, letting him feel his heartbeat. And then, with a sly smile, he implemented one of the invaluable pieces of advice his mother-in-law had once given him: "Don't worry. You don't have to answer now. Take a bit of time to think it over. I'll ask you again in seven days time."

His smile intensified, then he let go of Jing Yi's hands and turned around, his black hair and white robe building a beautiful contrast while they swayed in the breeze.

Jing Yi couldn't help but follow that leaving figure with his gaze until he vanished into the crowd. His heart still pounded wildly. Ah, someone had just proposed to him and this time, it really felt like an earnest proposal. Not like those jokes of Shao Hai.

Shao Hai, whose love had just been treated like a joke, felt a sudden sense of crisis. He hadn't heard the proposal at the beginning but he had still been able to see how close his Xiao Yi and that disciple of the Grandmaster had stood together and since the whole venue had fallen silent he had been able to hear Qiu Ling's following confession loud and clear.

Damn this! Somehow somebody else had taken a fancy to his Xiao Yi! And this guy was even so good with words! He had to step up his game or his Xiao Yi might be taken away. Just look at how he was slightly blushing while he looked at that white-clad figure! He had never looked at him that way.

While Jing Yi was confused, Qiu Ling was incredibly happy and Shao Hai was angry, the three men on the stage who had been discussing which martial sister Qiu Ling might like were completely stunned. They had been so incredibly wrong it couldn't even be expressed in words! This disciple of Grandmaster Zhangsun … he hadn't fallen in love with any martial sister. He had actually taken a fancy to one of his martial brothers!

"Say …" Sect master Yuchi coughed and evaded the gazes of the other two men. "That boy, who is he?"

Grandmaster Zhangsun displayed his eternal frown and narrowed his eyes. He also didn't know but … "It seems he's a disciple of our outer sect."

Sect master Yuchi and the Grand elder couldn't help but lift their brows. A disciple of their outer sect? That sure was unexpected.