When it came to the things involving Qiguan Cheng Da that had happened in his first few years in the Yun Zou Sect, then those could still be attributed to him being jealous. But there was one incident that he couldn’t just explain away.

When he and Qiu Ling went to the Hei Dian Sect as spies, Qiguan Cheng Da had come to take their reports. Then after Leng Jin Yu informed them about the opening of the secret realm in the Leyuan region, he had also been there.

At that time, Qiguan Cheng Da had approached him, and then, he and Leng Jin Yu had been thrown into that secret realm together after a major accident. Back then, he might have thought all of that was really just a coincidence but maybe there had been more to it.

He was Jing He’s reincarnation for the trial and his death would negatively influence Qiu Ling. The dragons knew that, as did the gods. Surely, it was the same for the demons. So maybe all of that had been a ploy to get rid of him and let him die a violent death in front of Qiu Ling’s eyes? It was possible.

In the end, it hadn’t worked out but shortly after he came out and finally reconciled with Qiu Ling after going out of the sect with him, the demon king had appeared and abducted him. Surely, that hadn’t been a coincidence either. Somebody should have told him that he was there.

Not just that, but judging by what Jin Ling had said at that time, he had also known about his visions of his past life and the lover ‘Tian’ that he thought he had promised himself to. The only people he had told about that had been Qiu Ling, Leng Jin Yu, and Qiguan Cheng Da and only the latter two had been given details.

Leng Jin Yu had been undercover in the mortal realm on the orders of the God of War and then gotten involved with Jinde so, naturally, it couldn’t be him. That only left Qiguan Cheng Da as the culprit. In other words, even back then, Qiguan Cheng Da had already been involved with that guy.

And this was only the earliest time he could say for sure that that had been the case. It was completely possible that Qiguan Cheng Da had been following Jin Ling’s orders much earlier. Whatever friendship he had once believed in, it had never existed.

Jing Yi rubbed his forehead, needing a moment to wrap his mind around this revelation. He had long accepted that as a child, he hadn’t been that smart. He had been duped by a lot of people in his life and he really couldn’t say that it was surprising that there was one more.

He had actually trusted Qiguan Cheng Da. He had tried for years to cultivate according to the way that Qiguan Cheng Da had taught him, he had forgiven him for stealing that Amethyst Lightning Pill, and he still hadn’t suspected him when the matter in the Leyuan region happened.

At the end of the day, it could only be said that he had been too naive. But thinking about it, he wasn’t too embarrassed. At that time, he had only been fifteen years old. Who hadn’t been duped once or twice at that age?

So, while he had no idea what to really make of this, it wasn’t that bad. Anyway, the two of them also hadn’t been that close so maybe it was no wonder that he hadn’t been able to realize what Qiguan Cheng Da was up to. What was more important was that by now, that kind of thing wouldn’t happen to him anymore. He was sure that he was able to judge people much more accurately. A longer life and more experiences should have guaranteed that.

While Jing Yi was still lost in thought, Wu Min Huan sighed deeply. He wasn’t sure how to tell Jing Yi about that matter or if he should at all. But since they had come from the same place, he felt that their feelings might have been a bit stronger than those between regular disciples of the same sect. That made telling him awkward but also meant that he had to.

He couldn’t keep the truth from him no matter how he felt about it or how Jing Yi felt. He could only keep an eye on his expression and then act accordingly. Anyway, if this was the first thing you heard right after returning from the immortal realms, wouldn’t you be distraught? But even though, when it concerned a friend, it was better to find out. And since he already knew this much, then he couldn’t spare him from the rest. Wu Min Huan sighed again but then still went ahead to tell him.

“Honestly, it’s been quite some time since then. My Master even had people from the demon-hunting sects come over to take a look and make sure of what had happened and whether he was really involved with the demon king. There was also somebody from the Jian Yi Sect involved.

“It was a big matter but it was kept under wraps as much as possible. I guess not many people even realized he was gone. His presence in the sect … it wasn’t that high and at the times it was, people usually weren’t happy with whatever he had done. I’m sorry to say this but he wasn’t very well-liked. I’m sorry for you though. Since you were his friend, that is probably hard to hear.”

Jing Yi immediately shook his head. “I wouldn’t call him a friend. It’s just that when I came to the sect, we had something to bond over. I didn’t have that with anyone else so there were some good feelings at that time. But I guess he never considered me a friend and we didn’t spend much time together either.

“Well, that is true for most people in the sect. So, thinking back to what you said before, I can’t think of anyone here I would like to see. I guess there might be some people from outside the sect though. Maybe we could invite them as well?” Although then again, if he thought of just who the people that he would invite were, he wasn’t sure if that was a good idea at all.

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