“Hey!” Niu Hai was still alright with Yue Lin telling the other story but he drew the line at this one. Anyway, that other junior who turned out to be a spy had been long ago. The last one … not that long ago so he had something to say about Yue Lin happily mouthing off.

Jing Yi looked from one person to the other and couldn’t help but chuckle himself. These two were really close. Even though Niu Hai currently looked like he was complaining, he had to be the one who had told Yue Lin in the first place. “I would have thought that had to be the only one. I mean, how often can something like this happen? Or, no, the last one wouldn’t have been a spy as well, right? So, what really happened with them?”

Niu Hai pursed his lips and then dragged the chair over that Xiao Dong hadn’t wanted before, sitting down at the side of the table. “You wouldn’t believe it! Actually, that one was snatched away by a dragon as well!”

Jing Yi raised his brows. Did dragons regularly come to the mortal realm? He really hadn’t thought so. In fact, he had figured that Qiu Ling had only come here because, well, he happened to be Jing He’s reincarnation. As for Xiao Dong, he was here on order of Qiu Ling and so had Qiu Ling’s other advisers been. He hadn’t heard of any other dragon who …

Jing Yi’s expression turned subtle. He couldn’t help but think of one other dragon that he actually knew had come to the mortal realm. But if that was the case … “The disciple in question wouldn’t have been called Zheng Yin, right?” Because that would be too coincidental even if it made sense.

Zheng Yin had originally been a disciple of the Hei Dian Sect. Or, well, he had been from the spirit beast tribe but then went to the mortal realm to find the missing people of their tribe. His steps had led him to the Hei Dian Sect to ensure that he would stay safe and not be caught by demon-hunters himself.

Later on, he had made his acquaintance and dragged him over to the Yun Zou Sect to help them out with saving Ma Zhi Wu. That was where Zheng Yin and Xin Lan had met for the first time as far as he was aware.

He hadn’t paid much attention back then because he was focused on what was going on with Ma Zhi Wu but apparently, those two had stayed in contact and become rather intimate. After all, recently, Xin Lan had even brought him to the dragon realm and they had seemed very close. Even though neither Xin Lan nor Zheng Yin had said anything, it was obvious there was more between them.

But even without that, the timing matched what Niu Hai and Yue Lin were talking about. Even though they hadn’t given an exact time for that ‘most recent’ escapade of Niu Hai’s, there weren’t that many disciples who suddenly turned up by their lonesome. No, most would join a sect together with others while everyone was young. But clearly, that wasn’t the type Niu Hai was trying to get close to. No, he was mostly focusing on disciples like them who joined later. Thus, it should be somebody who joined even after him, and Zheng Yin fit the bill.

As for why this was recent, it was probably because Xin Lan relatively recently took Zheng Yin away. While it might not have been yesterday or even last week, it hadn’t been that long if looking at it from the point of cultivators and practitioners who didn’t age any longer. So, all of that would explain what Niu Hai was talking about.

Niu Hai stared at him in disbelief. “How did you know?!”

Jing Yi could only smile wryly at that. Apparently, he had hit the nail on the head. The person they had mentioned was indeed Zheng Yin. He couldn’t say that he was all that surprised.

Unfortunately, while he had managed to connect the dots and figure this part out, he had failed to think further before he blurted out that question: Since he knew, he naturally had to explain and that meant giving some insight into what had happened with Zheng Yin and Xin Lan.

Seeing as Niu Hai seemed genuinely sad about this matter, he felt a bit bad bringing it up, but he also couldn’t just pretend that nothing had happened so he could only try not to talk about the relationship between those two and only focus on the how of him figuring this matter out.

“Well, as I mentioned, I’ve been living in the dragon realm with Qiu Ling. That dragon who snatched your junior away, if it’s the one I’m thinking about, then he is a very high-ranking member of the dragon race. Because of that, I happen to have met him. I also know Zheng Yin from here at the sect so I recognized him when he was brought over recently.”

Niu Hai actually gaped at that, unable to form any coherent thoughts, not to mention saying anything in response.

Yue Lin’s expression turned thoughtful though. “So as it turns out, not only are the dragons snatching away Niu Hai’s crushes, they also whisk them away from the mortal realm. That’s tough.” Saying so, he picked up the brush, bowed his head, and continued to write on the document he had been working on before, clearly not all that concerned about Niu Hai’s love life. Well, he had heard way too much about that specific topic already.

Jing Yi watched him for a moment before he turned back to Niu Hai. “I’m not sure if you’re aware but Zheng Yin is from the spirit beast tribe. I feel that he probably wouldn’t have wanted to be with a human. That kind of relationship … it can be a bit difficult. So it’s less about you and more about being with somebody that was more similar to him. Don’t take it too harshly.”

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