Oh. My. Fate?! (BL, Volume 8, Part 1)

108 Something Wrong with the Array

Jin Ling stepped into the array and ... continued to stand there. He blinked his eyes and then looked at the ground unbelieving. Why wasn't anything happening? Shouldn't he have been transported over? That was how these arrays worked, right?

He hesitated and finally imbued some spiritual energy into the array, hoping that this might be what was missing. After all, the human realm was a place with much less spiritual energy than the demon realm. Some of their arrays might not be continuously powered and would instead only be activated when somebody poured energy into it.

He waited but the array still stayed unresponsive, the lines remaining dull. What was the matter? Why wasn't the array working?

Jin Ling furrowed his brows and turned in a circle once, checking the lines of the array. It was a little different from the ones of the demon realm with a simpler shape. Nothing was amiss with it though. It didn't seem to have been changed in the time he needed to come here.

Jin Ling stared at the lines blankly, not knowing what to do. Jinde was on the other side. He couldn't not enter this realm. That just wasn't possible. No, he had to find a way. But how? What was wrong with this array? Why wouldn't it transport him?

He couldn't figure it out but he was unwilling to give up. "Jinde." He whispered his name, hoping against better knowledge that he would turn up.

Needless to say, there was no answer. Nobody appeared and everything stayed quiet. Just like before.

Jin Ling closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He had been so close. So close! He had finally seen with his own eyes that he had been right all along and that Jinde was indeed still alive. But now that he had come to meet with him ... he was unable to do so. Would they really need any longer before they could reunite?

He sighed and opened his eyes again. "Don't worry, Jinde. I'll find a way to open this array. I'll come and get you. Don't worry. Just give me a bit of time." He clenched his fists and then left with a last look at the array, determined to use the least possible amount of time to figure out just why it wouldn't activate. Then ... then they could finally meet again. Surely, Jinde was already waiting for him.

At that time, the person in question was lying in bed, his fingers trailing over his husband's naked chest. "I've missed you."

Leng Jin Yu looked up into that pair of golden eyes and nodded. "I've missed you as well." Indeed. He never would have thought but just a few hours or days without Jinde felt lonely. In the short amount of time that they had known each other, he had gotten strangely used to being with him. It was to the point where the thought of having to separate was unbearable. It really made him realize just how difficult it must have been for Jinde to wait all these years for Chun Yin's return.

Jinde smiled, leaned forward and kissed Leng Jin Yu's lips. "Well, I guess you managed to finish this quite fast if I consider that we didn't have an idea of how to do this when we just met."

"Mn. It's all thanks to Qiu Ling's uncle- and cousin-in-law. If it was just me, I wouldn't have been able to set this up."

"How honest." Jinde stretched, his skin rubbing against Leng Jin Yu's, turning the atmosphere ambiguous.

Leng Jin Yu took a deep breath and then reached up, grabbing Jinde's hand. "Speaking of honest ..."

"Your reaction is also very honest?" Jinde smiled and kissed his throat.

Leng Jin Yu's lips twitched. "You still don't have enough? I'm being serious here."

"I know. You're always so serious ..." Those lips trailed down, lingering at his collarbone for a spell before going even further.

Leng Jin Yu closed his eyes and took a deep breath. If he didn't say it now, he wouldn't get an opportunity anytime soon. "I ..." He gulped. "I re—"

He sat up, his eyes slightly widening.

Jinde also stopped with his teasing, turning to the side and looking up at him questioningly. "What is it?"

Leng Jin Yu's lips moved and he finally sighed. "Somebody tried to use the array."

"Grandmaster Zhangsun? Or your Master?" He couldn't imagine that though. Never mind that they probably would have other things to do, his husband wouldn't look like this if it was either of them.

Leng Jin Yu indeed shook his head. "No. I don't think so. I can't say for sure since opening an array normally doesn't require much energy but this person seems to be stronger."

Jinde propped himself up on his elbow and watched Leng Jin Yu's expression. "Do you have a suspect?"

"There aren't many people in the human realm that are stronger than Grandmaster Zhangsun. The only ones would be from the premier sects."

"Like the Liu He Alliance?"

"Mn."

"But Alliance Head Hua knows that we're here and don't want to be disturbed. He probably wouldn't try it, right?"

"Yes."

Leng Jin Yu didn't say anything else and Jinde could only sigh. There weren't many people stronger than the Grandmaster in the human realm but if compared to the people of the immortal realms, his strength was nothing much. And wasn't there somebody who had been constantly looking for him since his supposed death?

Jinde sighed again and lay down on his back. "I was careless before. When the God of War appeared and said that you were back and had finished the array ... I was so happy at that moment, I didn't think any longer. I took off the veil."

"Do you think he would have found out in that short amount of time?"

Jinde smiled wryly. "You don't know him. Jin Ling is ... he hasn't become the demon king for nothing. Even though he isn't the strongest among the demons, he is very charismatic. If there is something he wants to know, there would be people rushing out to do his bidding. And if he can't find any of those, he would at least be intelligent enough to get help in another way. Furthermore, Qiu Ling is at this sect with the reincarnation of the Son of Heaven. He likely has somebody reporting about the situation regularly."

Leng Jin Yu nodded. "Makes sense. Well, he can't get in here. As long as we don't leave ..."

"Mn ..." Jinde nodded but he didn't feel like fooling around anymore. He sat up and gave his husband a small smile. "I guess I should prepare for my recuperation then."

Leng Jin Yu raised his brows but then nodded. Together, the two of them got up and then left the room, going to the courtyard outside.