Wu Ya did not seem to find anything strange about all the pastries that Hong Bao was bringing over. Instead, the only thing he noticed was that she had to carry something that seemed very heavy. Of course, he should help out. “Oh, let me get this!”

He tried to take the tray from her but Hong Bao wouldn’t have it. She sidestepped him, moving the tray out of his reach several times, and finally managed to dance around him. “No need! A good demon-hunter should be able to handle this.”

Back in the pavilion, Qiu Ling cupped his cheek and sighed. “He’s so awkward. He’ll never woo her like this. Do you think she even knows that he likes her? And what does carrying a tray have to do with hunting demons? These two, I’m afraid nobody can understand them.”

Jing Yi only smiled in response but didn’t comment. Anyway, he was pretty sure that Qiu Ling would have done exactly the same as Wu Ya if he had been in Hong Bao’s situation.

As for carrying trays and hunting demons … he had a rough guess of what this might actually be about. Hong Bao had clearly trained hard and managed to attain a high level among her peers. It had to grate her when somebody wanted to take over such simple things for her that she could clearly do alone. After all, she had gotten to this place through her own effort. People not letting her make an effort herself was going exactly against what she wanted.

Jing Yi couldn’t say if he was right but he figured he should be based on his own experiences. He had wanted to become a good cultivator and he had hated that he hadn’t been able to go further than he did. Part of that had been because of his relationship with Qiu Ling because his feelings on what Jing He would feel when he woke up had stood between him learning things like sword arts.

Now, with the prospect of returning one day, he didn’t feel as bad about it anymore. After all, this wasn’t over yet. There would be opportunities to learn those things in the future without needing to worry about his other self’s feelings. He simply needed to wait for that time. But either way, he got the vexation when others tried to undermine your efforts, even if they did it with good intentions.

As for Hong Bao, she was still learning every day so naturally, there was nothing speaking against trying to combat the issue immediately. And with how forthright she had always been, he wasn’t surprised at all that she would simply evade Wu Ya’s helping hands and insist on doing everything herself. He did feel a bit sorry for him though. Wu Ya looked distraught over not being able to do anything for her.

Jing Yi smiled faintly. Wu Ya was somebody who was close to Qiu Ling even though Qiu Ling’s attitude toward him could be described as hot and cold. Either way, he seemed to be somewhat akin to family so they should probably help him when they got the opportunity. Right now wasn’t the right moment for that but he was sure that they would find the time later after he had managed to tell Hong Bao about why they had come in the first place.

Speaking of that, he watched her put down the tea set and the pastries in front of them and gave her a bright smile as well. “Thank you very much. Those look really tasty. Now, knowing how forthright you are, I shouldn’t beat around the bush.

“You see, with our wedding coming up, there will be a few … changes.” Just like with the others before, he couldn’t bring himself to tell Hong Bao the full truth. Anyway, knowing her, she probably wouldn’t take it well. In fact, compared to everyone else, she might make more of a fuss, and he really didn’t think that this was a good time for that.

They had needed too long to get to this place where he and Qiu Ling were getting along well again and where he had more or less made his peace with having to give up his soul for Jing He at least for a while. He didn’t want anyone to stir up trouble and destroy that fragile status quo. Even if it was done with good intentions, it would just make matters worse. And right now, he didn’t want to deal with that.

“To put it simply, from now on, we will be living in the immortal realms where Qiu Ling grew up. I mean we have for a while already but it’s going to be more … final this time around and we won’t be back in a long time.

“So we’ve come back to the mortal realm for a short trip to say goodbye to everyone here. We intend to meet in the capital city of the Long kingdom a week from now and I’m inviting everyone that is important to us. We would be very happy if you came as well.”

Hong Bao was already munching on a pastry and happily nodded her head. “Of course, I’ll be there! I can’t believe you finally planned your wedding without me though. Did you at least take my suggestions from back then into consideration?”

Jing Yi couldn’t help a laugh. Actually, being in the mortal realm again, he really realized how much had missed out on. Even knowing about that matter with Jing He, if he had stayed here, there would have been a lot of people who didn’t care about Jing He but only about him.

Hong Bao was a perfect example of that. She didn’t know his original self so she always focused on him and his matters. His wedding he had told her about back then … she had still kept it in mind after such a long time. Apparently, she remembered even now all the details of what she had planned for him.

In the end, he shook his head. There was no medicine for regret and he had to live with the consequences of his own actions. “Well, it’s not that I didn’t want to but things have changed a lot since then. My mother doesn’t live any longer, I also don’t have any other living relatives. It’s only me and Qiu Ling now and we are not even in the mortal realm any longer so most of the people from the Yun Zou Sect or the Hei Dian Sect won’t be able to come. So, we were only able to use it as a basis if you so want. The specific details, I’m afraid we won’t be able to incorporate them much.”

Hong Bao nodded, even though she felt that it was a pity that things couldn’t be done the way they had originally planned them. Clearly, that would’ve been a really wonderful wedding! In the end though … “Well, the important part is that the two of you are finally getting married. It took you long enough. If I hadn’t heard from you anytime soon, I might have thought one of you died. Otherwise, I really can’t imagine a reason to miss out on this wedding.”

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