Qiu Ling entered the old palace and raised his brows. The air in front of him glimmered and steam wafted up from the ground. Was this thing on fire? He looked around but couldn’t see anything of the like. Well, something had to be the matter though. There was no way a place would be this hot without reason.

He continued on and the heat grew even worse. If the Flaming Lion’s Tail really grew somewhere around here, it should be in the palace and most likely, it should be at the place where the heat originated from. Qiu Ling narrowed his eyes. If he wasn’t wrong, then it came from somewhere below. Continue reading →

Qiu Ling didn’t think about it any longer. Since he already knew now where to find these herbs and also knew who he could ask for more information on the other ingredients, he shouldn’t waste any more time. The sooner he managed to find everything and have the old geezer refine that pill for him, the sooner his beloved would fall in love again!

Qiu Ling smiled brightly at that thought and even remembered to nod at the Grandelder in thanks. “Thank you, Grandelder. Then I’ll be on my way.” Qiu Ling rushed out of the palace at that, not waiting for a response.

The Grandelder and his head disciple were both stunned. Had the Grandmaster’s disciple just come by only to ask about some herbs and then ran out like the wind? Continue reading →

Qiu Ling turned to the highest peak of the sect where that Master of his lived. He hadn’t gone over there in the last five years and instead stayed close to the building where Jing Yi lived all the time. He just wanted to feel a little closer to him. Just a little. Because with each passing day, he missed Jing He a little more.

Being all alone … he wasn’t used to that anymore. He had already become accustomed to being around Jing He and having his mother-in-law help him out whenever something happened. This sense of belonging … He missed it.

Qiu Ling sighed. This wasn’t the time to become all sentimental. It wouldn’t be long before he got his family back. He would make sure of that! Continue reading →

The two of them strolled through the outer sect. Jing Yi had already seen everything countless times but as a normal disciple, there were still many buildings that he couldn’t even enter. Only the disciples with fewer spirit veins that had chances of becoming inner sect disciples in the future or had found an Elder willing to teach them would be able to go there. As for everyone else … They were basically left to fend for themselves.

Thankfully, Jing Yi had done a lot for his senior martial brothers and sisters over the years so their relationship wasn’t bad even though they weren’t close. He had always been able to ask if he wanted to know something and over the course of five years, he had also heard a lot. Thus he could still tell Qiu Ling what all of them were about. Continue reading →

Xiao Dong examined Jing Yi’s expression. It seemed … quite thoughtful? Had he not told the story well enough? Or could it be that His Majesty’s beloved didn’t believe him? Well, he had to admit that the story had some questionable parts.

Like why had the king never married his senior martial brother if he loved him so much? His uncle hadn’t managed to tell him because his mother had interfered so he didn’t know about that. He knew even less why the king’s senior martial brother would have married some woman if he could have married the king. Wasn’t it said that the late king had been a devastating beauty? Why would anybody refuse to marry such a person?

Anyway, that wasn’t the point. “It really happened that way.” He might have left some things out but he hadn’t put even one word in there that wasn’t true! Continue reading →

Jing Yi went toward the courtyard where Xiao Dong and Shao Hai were normally training. He hesitated before turning the last corner though. What exactly should he ask? And how should he do it? Could he really just go over and … ask away?

He bit his lower lip. To be honest, he felt a little awkward imagining the scene. Although Xiao Dong hadn’t grown taller in the last five years since he got here and still looked the same as before, he knew that Xiao Dong was older than him. So … marriage probably wasn’t such a foreign thought to him? After all, with fifteen, people were old enough to marry. While he had only just reached that age, Xiao Dong had already passed it by several years. He should have thought about it a lot, right? Continue reading →

When Jing Yi woke up the next morning his thoughts jumped back to what had happened the day before. He couldn’t wait to ask Xiao Dong but a look outside showed that it was still early. This was normally the time when Shao Hai and Xiao Dong would train so rather than being a bother, he should go and do something useful.

Thus Jing Yi washed up, put the robe of the outer sect disciples on and went down to the first floor. Without hesitation, he walked to the storage room, took out a broom and proceeded to sweep the floor.

After a while, two other disciples came down the stairs. The first one yawned and passed by him without greeting like on any other day. The second one wanted to follow, stepped past Jing Yi and froze. Slowly, he turned back and took in what he saw: Jing Yi. A broom. An incredibly clean floor. Continue reading →

Bai Fen smiled when she saw that he was finally considering the real issue. “You’re making it too easy on him.”

“Huh?”

“That boy, he has grown up alone and, honestly, too pampered. He is … our only child so we wrapped him in cotton wool. Especially his father. Jing He … He didn’t know how to handle you in the beginning. Your approach was too forceful, too unrestrained. Someone like him who was always handled with special care wouldn’t know how to react. You scared him and he tried to retreat. He would have continued to do that if he wasn’t bound by our customs and the expectations he feels are placed on him. You only managed to wear his defenses down because you were so persistent.” Continue reading →