Jing Yi stayed beside his mother and wouldn’t go back to spend time with the girls regardless of how they or their mothers begged him. Madam Zhong smiled when the other women teased her about it and patted her son’s head. “He’s just a little shy. What’s so bad about it?”
Jing Yi grabbed onto her skirt and refused to budge an inch. His eyes warily darted about. He looked at the mud one time, then at the girls another time, finally even examining the laundry his mother had done.
“What is it, Jing’er?”
His mother bent down to ask him but this time her obedient son didn’t want to answer her. He didn’t want his mother to remember he had nearly fallen!
Qiu Ling grinned. Mn, this was just perfect! He would be an idiot if he didn’t make use of this! He followed the two of them home and waited for the night to come. He already had a plan but he still needed an opportunity to implement it. Considering how the last weeks had passed he knew that Madam Zhong wouldn’t leave her son out of her sight soon. He didn’t want to wait that long though.
“If there’s no opportunity given, I’ll just have to create one myself.”
Soon enough, night fell and the Zhongs went to bed. Qiu Ling waited a while, then he stood up and went to their bedside. He extended his hand and put the tip of his finger against Mister Zhong’s forehead. “Have a sweet dream and don’t disappoint me tomorrow.” Saying so, he turned around and settled down at Jing Yi’s bedside.
Meanwhile, Mister Zhong entered a dream: He saw himself kidnapping his own son and bringing him into the forest under the cover of the night. His son woke up with the first rays of sunlight. He blinked his doe eyes and noticed that he wasn’t at home.
Jing Yi seemed fearful at first but after looking around he warmed up a little. He curiously examined the plants and animals around him and followed his father all around the forest. They came home late that day and Madam Zhong was furious and scolded the two of them but father and son just looked at each other and smiled. They regretted nothing.
Mister Zhong woke up with a smile in the dead of the night. He looked at his wife who was fast asleep. This dream couldn’t be a coincidence! Hadn’t he fruitlessly tried to coax his son into going outside for a few weeks already? The gods favored his son. He was sure of that after that Daoist Master had come by twice for his Jing Yi’s sake. So maybe the gods had been moved by his tireless efforts. They also wanted Jing Yi to be more like the other boys so they sent him this dream as a solution to his problem!
Grateful for such divine guidance Mister Zhong quietly crept out of the bed and got dressed. He stealthily searched for something he and his son could eat while out in the wilderness and packed it up. Next, he took Jing Yi’s clothes and looked at his sleeping child.
Mister Zhong was at a loss. How to dress him and take him away without him or his mother noticing?
Qiu Ling sighed. Really, maybe he should have just taken Jing Yi himself. But he knew he wouldn’t be able to bring himself to abandon him alone at the forest. The boy would be terrified and probably never set one foot out of the door for the rest of his days. With a wave of his hand, both Madam Zhong and Jing Yi were caught in a sleep spell.
By now, Mister Zhong had persuaded himself that everything would go well if he was fast enough. He pulled the blanket away and dressed his son as fast as possible. The child didn’t wake up and Mister Zhong experienced a rare feeling of accomplishment.
I’m such a great father! Jing Yi will be elated when he finds out that I was right all along. From tomorrow onward he’ll pester me every day to bring him to the forest again!
Mister Zhong was incredibly sure of this so he picked up the bundle with their food, took his son into his arms and glanced at his wife again. Then he left the house and went into the forest.
It hadn’t been long since winter ended. This early in the morning, it was bitingly cold outside. Jing Yi curled up in his father’s embrace, shivering a little from the wind. Qiu Ling furrowed his brow. Mister Zhong didn’t notice anything and Jing Yi was still under the sleeping spell so he also couldn’t wake up to voice his discomfort.
“What kind of father are you?” murmured Qiu Ling but he had already lifted his hand.
The wind stilled at his command, the clouds that had been hanging in the sky slowly drifted aside to reveal the countless stars twinkling over their heads. The temperature rose until Qiu Ling was assured that Jing Yi wouldn’t get sick. Thanks to Jing Yi the surrounding villages would get splendid weather today.
Mister Zhong reached a place in the forest he felt to be good. The river was gurgling not too far away from them and the trees stood a little farther from each other in a small clearing so that he could see the sky. He settled down at the roots of a tree and sat his son on his lap.
How long could it take for Jing Yi to wake up? Probably not that long. Thus Mister Zhong looked around in preparation to find the best spots to show to his son later on.
Qiu Ling smiled smugly and lifted the sleeping spell on Jing Yi. Not only Mister Zhong, but he himself also couldn’t wait for Jing Yi to wake up. But instead of Mister Zhong who wanted to dazzle his son with all the new things around him so he’d take a shine to nature, Qiu Ling’s thoughts about this trip were rather sinister.
Just you wait, he thought. Today is the day I’ll make sure you won’t have the possibility to bother my Jing He ever again!
Qiu Ling, the mighty king of the dragon race, had inexplicably developed a deep-seated hatred for little girls. Ah, what would the people of the dragon race say if they ever found out?
Yan Su Su 
Ok, this relationship has already strayed from being moderately toxic (overprotective) to full on abuse. The perpetrator is controlling, isolating the victim from any potential friends or allies and gaslighting him about ‘dangers’ in order to control his behaviour and make the perpetrator ultimately his sole source of companionship, support and love. He is deliberately fostering a dependency relationship and keeping his victim weak and manageable by preventing him from experiencing and overcoming life’s bumps and bruises. Is this all going to be this unhealthy? Having survived this sort of abuse I know just how quickly it escalates and how difficult it is to escape once the instigator has this much power and is shaping your entire world view. I’ll give it a bit longer in the hope that there is going to be some actual character development and you’re not actually trying to sell abusive relationships as nurturing and loving.
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So, first of all, I’m not going to say that what Qiu Ling does here isn’t abusive. It absolutely is, you’re right about that, and he’ll suffer the consequences later on.
Now, warning for obvious spoilers ahead:
There are going to be changes to the dynamic of their relationship. That’s the whole premise of this story, actually: The trials are there to give the opportunity to see options play out, to explore sides of one’s self, and make the best of it.
The relationship of these two was unhealthy from the very beginning and while they overcame quite a bit of that in the Nine Heavens already, there is much more to unearth both in terms of each of their characters, as well as in regard to their relationship. That is what the trial is for. But it is a slow and grueling process because there are many issues, not only on one side but on both. There are ups and downs throughout the whole story up until the very end.
E.g., threats of suicide probably being the absolute low point for Qiu Ling but (even in volume 1) you also see some positive changes like Jing Yi gaining his first friend (around the middle of volume 1, so in part 2), making even more new connections in volume 2, and even going to travel alone for some time in volume 3. They actually do spend a considerable amount of time apart throughout the series to give both of them time to grow by themselves and in their relationships with others as they don’t just revolve around this relationship.
So if you decide to continue on, you will see this dynamic get worse at times but ultimately, there’s an upward trend while both sides heal from previous trauma, get to know each other better and work through their issues as both people and a couple.
One thing to keep in mind though: This is a very long series. There are already more than 1000 chapters out and still three and a half volumes left to be published. So you absolutely shouldn’t expect some kind of big turnaround in the next ten or twenty chapters. That’s simply not the kind of story this is. It is a slow one (like, they only become an actual couple again sometime in the revised volume 3 after Qiu Ling had to put in quite a bit of work) because I do want to give each of the characters the time to delve into their issues and then work through them. And because there are a ton of issues (as well as many more characters to join these two later on) that takes time just like it takes time in real life to work through trauma.
Now, I can’t tell you whether this story is for you or not. I can promise that I’m not romanticizing abuse. That is why things always backfire for Qiu Ling if he tries this kind of shit, if not instantly, then definitely later in the series. Also, I like to think that it is somewhat true to life. Like, the reason Jing He originally never questioned Qiu Ling’s behavior was because he was used to being put through pretty much the same thing by his own parents. Even though they wanted to keep him safe and help, it can’t be called anything but abuse. Hence, him easily accepting unhealthy behavior from Qiu Ling. On the other hand, Qiu Ling’s behavior stems from his own trauma that he was put through by the previous generation as well. He isn’t just a bad person for convenience’s sake but he continues the cycle because of what he experienced. (Which doesn’t excuse his behavior in the slightest but it’s the reason for how things pan out in the story and why I mention that they both need to work through their issues to actually become a healthy couple.)
Similar things are true for many other characters in the series. So, abuse or any kind of unhealthy relationship is a very large and integral part of this story so this isn’t something that can just be skipped. You’ll have to judge for yourself whether you feel up to sitting through this or not.
Also, the story gets slowly darker with each volume, starting from the end of volume 1 with fewer comedic parts and more tragic and serious parts.
If it helps, these are some other triggers this series contains, not necessarily in regard to the main couple but in general:
mentions of suicide, death (including murder), mentions of previous abuse (in regard to characters other than the first main couple), inferences to self-harm (e.g. flashbacks to a character starving themselves), incestuous feelings of one character, kidnapping, miscarriages
None of these are self-serving or gratuitous. This is simply a story about characters that have lifespans far past that of a human and have thus experienced quite a bit, not all of which is good.
If you want me to expand on something, please ask away!
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