Oh. My. Fate?! (BL, Volume 12, Part 1)

45 Roping In All Realms

Qiu Ling took a deep breath and slowly walked through the garden. He could indeed see that somebody had started to sort it out and restore it to how it had originally looked as well as possible. It was just that the garden was big and with this bad of a state, it would take a long time to get it back to how it had once been.

Crouching down next to one of the flower beds, Qiu Ling looked at the plants closely. He didn't know much about gardening or even plants in general. Even though he had lived alone outside in the wilderness for a long time, he had refused to pay attention to this because it reminded him of Jinde and the time when he had lived in the capital city, when there had been people who cared about him and everything was alright.

Still, even though he had never wanted to learn, it was of interest to Jing He so a lot of time early on in their relationship had been spent in this very garden. He had watched as Jing He carefully tended to the flowers and he had asked him about them just so he could hear his beautiful voice. Even if he hadn't wanted to learn specifically, he had still absorbed some of that knowledge.

Qiu Ling hesitated and then straightened up again, turning to look at Leng Jin Yu. "Do you think ... he might come back on his own? If he does ... would he hate to see it like this?"

Leng Jin Yu glanced at Qiu Ling's expression which seemed rather lost and then looked at the garden. He also didn't know how to find Jing He and he could imagine that Qiu Ling felt like doing anything was better than just waiting. At the very least, it would give him something to focus on while everything else was up in the air.

"I don't know Jing He very well but I've seen this garden while he was on his trial. It seemed like much care was put into it so it is safe to say that he should care a lot. If he were to return and saw it like this, he might indeed feel hurt."

Qiu Ling nodded and then crouched down again, carefully picking out the plants that couldn't be saved any longer. "I suppose Jinde could do more about this." Yes, he had only picked up a little from watching Jing He and then he had learned a little more about spiritual plants when Jing Yi started to learn Alchemy in the Hei Dian Sect. He really couldn't be called knowledgeable.

Leng Jin Yu squatted down next to him and watched Qiu Ling work. "We'll find him."

Qiu Ling's hands paused for a moment but then, he continued, not responding.

Leng Jin Yu looked at him and sighed. Right now, Qiu Ling probably didn't feel much hope. Two days had passed and they had found no sign of Jing He. In fact, they couldn't even be sure that he was still alive. After all, a soul entering the cycle of reincarnation didn't cause any special feeling so even with their souls bound Qiu Ling couldn't say for sure whether his partner had passed on.

If it was different, Jinde would have known when he died in his past life as Chun Yin but he hadn't. Qiu Ling also knew that and being in this situation now, he was probably reminded of the past a lot, wondering if he and Jing He would end up the same: separated, unable to ever see each other again until the day one of them died, only to find out the truth years later. And maybe then, there would indeed only be a chance to meet each other again in another life.

Leng Jin Yu looked up at the sky, feeling complicated. As the one who was Jinde's second chance, his feelings about their past were never simple. Comparing this to Qiu Ling's situation didn't make it any better. Still, his own situation didn't matter right now.

He took a deep breath and then tried to comfort him. "I know you're afraid but we will find him. We have already distributed his portrait all over the Nine Heavens and the dragon realm and the demon realm will follow suit soon. If you want to, we can even rope in the mortal realm. After all, we know quite a few people there. With Fei Bai Mu, Shen An De, Hua Ming, and Yuchi Bing Xia alone, most of the major sects would have his portrait, and their disciples travel all over the realm. If he is there, they would also find him. Sooner or later, we would hear something."

Qiu Ling blinked his eyes and turned to Leng Jin Yu, staring at him with an odd look.

"What?" Even though he knew that his promise that they would find Jing He might sound rather empty right now, the way Qiu Ling was currently looking at him was still making him feel odd somehow.

"Where is Xiang Yu right now?"

"Uh ..." Leng Jin Yu thought for a moment but realized that he actually hadn't seen him since they came back from the Nine Heavens with him. Considering that Xin Lan had been in the courtyard the whole time, this might not be odd but then, he also didn't know where the little fallen god had vanished to. "Let me ask Jinde."

He took out his transmission stone and imbued his spiritual energy. Not even a blink of an eye later, the connection was already established and Jinde's beautiful face greeted him.

Leng Jin Yu smiled but didn't waste any time. "Say, where did Xiang Yu go?"

Jinde raised his brows and turned to look at the person standing behind him. He had actually wondered about that before but thought it was because these two were sulking about each other's presence. Now, he couldn't help but want to confirm though.

As for Xin Lan, his lips twitched. "He went to the High Heavens to ask that bastard Tian about the Son of Heaven's whereabouts." As for the issue with Jin Ling, he wisely kept quiet about it. This was something Jinde really didn't need to know.