Chapter 916 - Care to Explain?

Jing Yi sat down at the table and watched Qiu Ling do the same. The more closely he looked, the more he felt that Qiu Ling seemed depressed. Alright, something was obviously wrong.

He sighed and reached over, grabbing Qiu Ling's hand. "So what is the matter? You're obviously not being your normal self."

Qiu Ling looked up and shook his head. "Everything's alright. I have no idea what you're talking about."

Jing Yi didn't respond and just continued to look at Qiu Ling. If he still couldn't tell whether or not something was up with him even after living together for several years, then he would need to be the most useless person to ever live in the mortal realm.

Qiu Ling tensed up and finally had to look away. Jing He had never looked at him like this. If he didn't want to talk about something, Jing He would instead help him change the subject. But Jing Yi had the bad habit of wanting to get behind things and would continue to ask. That was … hard to deal with. "It's really nothing."

"If it's nothing, then why are you making such a huge deal about it? It's not like you. Qiu Ling, just tell me the truth. How bad can it be?"

Qiu Ling sighed and closed his eyes. "I don't even know what to say. You probably think that it's stupid."

"Even if I would think that, it's also lovable to be a fool sometimes. So just go ahead." He squeezed Qiu Ling's hand and gave a smile. Anyway, he just wanted to know what was wrong. It was nothing more than that. And with everything they had been through already, he didn't think that it was asking too much. Qiu Ling should trust him that much.

Qiu Ling opened his eyes again and looked at him with a pained expression. "I just feel like things will go wrong."

"Go wrong?" Did he mean that he didn't believe that senior martial brother Nian would be able to pull things off with Shen Qiang? Then why had he even suggested doing this?

Qiu Ling shook his head as if he could imagine what Jing Yi was thinking. "I mean with us. Just think about it: How often did something happen here and we were the ones who had to suffer from it? We couldn't get married because of some task the Yun Zou Sect gave us, we were separated when they called us over to that Leyuan region, then you were kidnapped on these very sect grounds, and we were attacked almost as soon as we came back. And now something like this happened.

"If we get involved again, won't we be the ones to get into trouble this time as well? I don't want that. I don't want you to be in danger." He turned his hand around, interlacing his fingers with Jing Yi's. "I want you to be safe and sound and preferably in eyeshot where I can make sure that that is the case. That is all I want. Nothing more, nothing less. Is that really asking too much?"

Jing Yi's gaze softened. So it was not that Qiu Ling didn't want to help but that he was afraid. That was something he could understand very well. After everything that had happened, it would be strange if he wasn't the least bit wary. "It's not. I also don't think that it's silly. You're just worried about me, about us. That's nothing bad."

Qiu Ling nodded. He also felt that it wasn't wrong for him to be like this. But he hadn't been sure that Jing Yi would think the same. And he really didn't want to have any argument with him because of something like this. That wasn't worth it. "So what do we do now? Do you still want to go and help?"

Jing Yi shook his head. "You said that there was nothing we could do right now and that we could only wait for now and then strike when the time is right. I believe that you wouldn't have said that if you didn't think so. That was your way of helping them. But you just didn't want to get involved any further because of us. I understand that. So let's just go with that."

Qiu Ling nodded and looked at their hands, feeling that things weren't too bad. This was a good compromise.

"Even though that's the case, when this happens the next time, just tell me. We're a couple. There's no need to keep anything from me. Alright?"

Qiu Ling looked up and nodded but he didn't seem too happy when he did so.

"You're nodding as if you agree but you're looking as if you disagree. Would you care to explain that?"

Qiu Ling pursed his lips. "Won't you want to get involved? I mean if this doesn't work out, then you'll tell me again that this is also about your friends and then you'll want to do something. Isn't that so?"

Jing Yi just smiled. "Isn't that why I learned how to use my spiritual energy and fly? I'd be able to get away now if something happened."

Qiu Ling nodded but didn't say anything further. Inwardly, he couldn't help but continue to worry though. Yes, Jing Yi was now able to fly and use his spiritual energy. He would be able to get away. But only if the ones following him were of a lower level than him and didn't try to attack him while hunting him.

With everything that had happened until now, Qiu Ling wasn't too sure if both of these requirements would be fulfilled. In fact, he felt that it was much more likely that they wouldn't. And what was he supposed to do then?

He could shield Jing Yi from many things but he couldn't be everywhere at once. If he was supposed to do something to help that Nian Hong Fang and it endangered Jing Yi's life in the end, then he didn't know what he would do.

So he would much rather see that things worked out by themselves than that they needed to get involved. That way, he was pretty sure that he would be able to keep Jing Yi out of harm's way. That was the only thing he wanted.