Oh. My. Fate?! (BL, Volume 11, Part 1)

106 To Follow Him

Jing He's eyes widened and his lips parted as if to ask how this had happened and when. In the end, another thought pressed to the front. "Binding your soul ... are there repercussions?" He couldn't help but feel that there should be. A curse was a curse, after all.

Qiu Ling nodded. "There are. The soul-binding can't be undone without severely injuring your soul. While it lasts, our lives ... they will be tied to our other half in a special way." His gaze turned solemn when he mentioned this and for just a moment, his grasp on Jing He's hand tightened.

He forced himself to relax his grip immediately after, not wanting Jing He to feel his complicated mood at this moment. For Jing He, taking all of this in at once had to be hard. He couldn't let him deal with his issues as well.

He sighed and forced himself to smile at least faintly. "You might wonder how this manifests. To be honest, there are many small ways in our everyday lives. But the most important and the one that makes this dangerous is that we literally can't live without our other half." He looked at Jing He intently, trying to make him understand what this really meant.

Jing He looked at him in fright. "This ... this wouldn't mean that ..." You will die when I do. The thought crossed his mind as soon as he heard Qiu Ling's words but he didn't dare to say it out loud.

To be honest, when it came to binding their souls together and being united for a lifetime, he had no complaints. This was the man he loved after all and he had even ensured that he would not develop feelings for others while unaware during his trials. But Qiu Ling following him in death ... that made his heart squeeze in pain.

He did not know how he would live if Qiu Ling was gone. But he had always thought that he would only be forced to find out if Qiu Ling left him. He had never even pondered that there might come a day when Qiu Ling passed away. After all, whether it was the gods or the dragons, they were immortal in theory. And Qiu Ling was strong and experienced. There didn't seem to be a reason to worry.

Now, Qiu Ling had brought up this possibility of what would happen if either of them died and he seemed to imply that if it was him, he'd follow him. Of course, this spoke to a deep love for your partner but ... to think he would be the one to bring harm to Qiu Ling, he also felt troubled by that prospect.

Jing He stayed silent but finally reached out with his other hand, carefully covering Qiu Ling's. He didn't know what to say. The curse couldn't be circumvented. This was true for all three immortal races. So no matter what, he couldn't help Qiu Ling. The only thing in his power ... "I will be careful in the future."

Qiu Ling smiled and nodded. "I sure hope you will, although I hope so for your sake more so than for mine." He turned his hand and intertwined his fingers with Jing He's. "The reason I'm telling this is that the soul-binding relies on, well, the soul. So because it was your true soul in the trial, seeing your mortal reincarnation die ... had a rather profound effect on me."

Jing He had looked at their hands but raised his head in shock at these words. "You ..."

"Don't worry. I'm alright." Qiu Ling gave him a reassuring smile.

Looking at him, Jing He felt that it should be right but he still worried. Qiu Ling wouldn't have said all this if the matter wasn't serious.

Qiu Ling sighed. "Didn't you want to know what happened over the last seven days? Well, you can say that it was Tian's curse that got me. Even though your soul simply returned to your original body and you didn't actually die, I couldn't distinguish at that moment. I just ... felt as if my heart was about to crack into a million pieces. There was no ... conscious thought anymore. So I set out to take revenge for however long I could. Most likely, this would have gone on until I was killed while trying."

Jing He squeezed Qiu Ling's hands. Suddenly, the past week where he had worried whether Qiu Ling still loved him seemed so ridiculous. He actually could have lost him and all because of the trial. "Qiu Ling, I ..." He didn't know what to say. He could only hold his hands and thank Tian in his heart that he hadn't taken Qiu Ling from him. He ... really didn't know what he would have done otherwise.

Jing He fell into a daze when the thought occurred. Qiu Ling had told him what it meant for the dragons to lose their partner. It seemed ... he wasn't so sure if he could go on without Qiu Ling either. If he really lost him ... how could he ever get over it?

"Heh." Qiu Ling got to his feet and took the last step to Jing He's side, pulling him into his arms. "I know this must come as a shock. Don't worry about it. It's in the past. Actually, it was at that time that I ... stumbled into the High Heavens and met Tian. He was the one who helped me regain my sanity." He leaned down and kissed the top of Jing He's head.

There was more to say about that episode but he felt that he shouldn't say more now. It had already been so much, maybe too much for Jing He to take at once. So for today, he would stop here. Everything else would have to follow in the upcoming days and weeks.

He rubbed Jing He's back and then sighed. "Whatever happened or will happen in the future, you can rest assured that I will always try to find my way back to you. Even if I couldn't promise anything else, that much is guaranteed."