Oh. My. Fate?! (BL, Volume 5)

30 A Different Kind of Painting

Leng Jin Yu was thinking about the person missing from his memories while searching for the Heart-Calming Buddha Flower with Jing Yi. At the same time, sect master Yuchi and Grandmaster Zhangsun were searching for Jinde on the sect master's peak. They had already looked in every nook and cranny of the sect master's palace and in those places where one could hide outside. Unfortunately, there wasn't even a hair of Jinde to be found.

The two men convened in front of the palace again. Zhangsun Xun Yi frowned while Yuchi Bing Xia looked defeated. That person had done a lot for their sect while they had only provided him with a place to stay. Now they weren't even able to do that much. He didn't even know where to put his face anymore.

"There are quite a few empty houses on the peak. Let's look there, too. He probably felt that he didn't have much time so entering one of them would have been a good idea. And if he didn't find anyone in there, he might have just stayed and waited for one of us there."

Yuchi Bing Xia nodded. "Then ... I'll take the west side and you take the east side?"

"Mn. Let's do that then." The Grandmaster didn't stay to talk about it any longer and hurried to the east. Never mind opening the secret realm. He didn't have much hope that that person would be able to do it. But he felt bad about having him experience all this.

Zhangsun Xun Yi started to comb through the houses. He didn't enter if somebody else was there and instead started with the other houses. Only if he couldn't find him there, would he have a closer look at the others. Unfortunately, it seemed like he'd really have to do so.

Although they hadn't talked about it, Yuchi Bing Xia adopted the same attitude. He searched in the houses where nobody was living first but couldn't find that person anywhere. For a moment, he considered going to see the Grandmaster again to ask if he had been lucky but then decided against it. Who knew if that person stayed put? If he felt that something was wrong on the peak, he might go somewhere else. How were they supposed to find him then? So he shouldn't waste any time.

He looked at the house closest to him but hesitated. One of his disciples was in there. If he went up, then he'd have to explain at least a bit but normally nobody would talk about that person. Even he had only heard about him when he had been chosen to become the next sect master. He couldn't casually divulge this secret even if the person he'd talk to was one of his own disciples.

But how was he supposed to do this then? He would have to make sure that the disciples weren't in. But they wouldn't just leave their houses. Only if they wanted to seclude themselves in an environment more suitable for cultivation or were sent on a mission would there be an opportunity.

Yuchi Bing Xia slightly raised his brows. Come to think of it of the few disciples he had some actually were on the outside right now. Maybe he should start with their houses first.

He looked around and his gaze fell on a path leading to a house close to the foot of the mountain. That was where Yu Jin had lived until a few days ago. Yuchi Bing Xia sighed. He really had a hard time coming to terms with the fact that his favorite disciple had been lost just like that. He really could only hope that the secret realm would open soon. Even if all hope was lost for the Yun Zou Sect, he didn't want Yu Jin to die in some unknown realm.

He reached the door to Yu Jin's house and gently opened. He had mostly called Yu Jin over to his palace but one or two times he had also visited him here. It really was a place that made one feel at home.

Inside the house, Jinde leaped up from his seat at the desk and hid in a corner. The person he had just heard entering had hidden his aura so that he couldn't figure out who it was. It couldn't be that Jin Ling had come back to the Yun Zou Sect once again, right? And even managed to locate him here?

Jinde's gaze glided back to the desk and his pupils shrank. Oh no! He had forgotten ...

Before he could do something about it, steps closed in on the room. The house wasn't big in the first place and since Yuchi Bing Xia had seen Yu Jin painting in the study both times when he came here he had gone to this room first.

Upon entering he sighed. Seeing this room where they had talked before really made him melancholic. The person he was searching for right now didn't seem to be there, though. He wanted to turn away when his gaze fell on the furled paper scrolls on the desk.

He frowned and turned back to the shelf where he had seen them the last time. Not a single one was lying there right now. Yuchi Bing Xia tilted his head and went over to the desk. Why had Yu Jin placed all of them there? As far as he knew he treated those paintings like his treasure. He wouldn't just let them lie around like that.

Yuchi Bing Xia shook his head and gently picked them up. Maybe his disciple had looked at them before he left the sect. Now he wouldn't be able to see them for quite a while. He should make sure that they were in a good state when Yu Jin came back.

He placed them back on the shelf one after the other until finally the last scroll was put back in its place. Yuchi Bing Xia turned back to the desk to take the painting that was still lying there opened. He picked it up and paused.

This ... didn't look like Yu Jin's paintings at all. The way it was painted was different but the biggest disparity was certainly what it depicted. He had only ever seen Yu Jin paint a courtyard or a building and not even completely. But this ...

This painting clearly showed a man and it seemed that there wasn't even a hair missing. It was as if this person had stood right in front of him when he painted. And somehow this person seemed slightly familiar.

"Who did you paint, Yu Jin?"