Training What?

When Jing Yi and Qiu Ling reached the building … they found themselves in front of a locked door. They looked at it in confusion and then exchanged a glance.

"What do you think happened?"

Qiu Ling raised his brows and then pulled his beloved closer, giving him a peck on the lips. "Who knows? Maybe they changed the opening hours. Let's just come back sometime later. It's not like doing a mission will run away."

Jing Yi's lips twitched. Wasn't Qiu Ling making things a little too easy? It wasn't like they had come over late in the evening or before dawn. It was currently early afternoon. Why wouldn't the building be open? As far as he knew, it had always been open the whole day. Why should that have changed in the last few years?

Unfortunately, a certain dragon king didn't seem interested in the least. To him, it was probably not important what exactly they did. Even if they just traveled around, he would also be happy. But that was not what Jing Yi needed right now. It also wasn't what he wanted to do. No, with the opportunity right in front of him, he really wanted to live up to the goal he had given himself.

"Let's go and ask somebody." He grabbed Qiu Ling's hand and pulled him along.

Qiu Ling pursed his lips but still followed him. Even though he would have preferred it if no third person disturbed their time together, he could live with it for the moment. After all, they had already spent the last few years with just the two of them. He could take it for a few minutes.

Jing Yi randomly walked up to one of the martial sisters that was walking by and gave her a smile. "Excuse me …"

The woman stopped and turned to face them, raising her brows. Jing Yi felt that she looked vaguely familiar but he wasn't too sure who she was. Maybe he had met her once when he entered the Yun Zou Sect back then.

"I'm sorry. We were actually looking to take on a mission but the building is closed. You wouldn't happen to know what is going on, would you?"

The martial sister looked from him to Qiu Ling and back again, her gaze doubtful. "Where have you been for the last few years?"

Jing Yi froze and then turned to Qiu Ling with some worry. Would it be alright to tell her? He didn't want to lie to somebody they were asking for help but …

Qiu Ling didn't bother to wonder what was the right thing to do. Anyway, it wasn't important as long as they had a good reason. Thus he put his arm around Jing Yi's shoulders and gave the other disciple a wide grin. "My fiance and I weren't here. We were … training together. Mn. That's what we did." He nodded as if to reassure her that that was indeed what they had done.

Needless to say, his attitude was what made her wonder in the first place if they had really been training. Or, well, if they had trained, just what had they been training? She eventually shook her head. Why was she even wondering about that? Since these two were engaged whatever they did was a matter between them. She didn't need to worry about that. Anyway, that wasn't why they had stopped her.

She turned back to Jing Yi since she felt that it was easier to talk with him. "Three of our disciples went missing and all on a mission they took on. So senior martial brother Wu and the Elders felt that it was too dangerous to let us take on more missions by ourselves and closed the building."

Jing Yi stared at her in a daze. There was too much information in these few sentences and he didn't even understand half of it. "Why … I mean, senior martial brother Wu?" Why wasn't the one deciding on this the Sect Master or Grandmaster? How come a normal disciple would make such important decisions? Was he the one in charge of the building?

The woman wanted to ask what was wrong with him when she reconsidered. Right, if they hadn't been in the sect for a few years, they likely didn't know about that either. "Senior martial brother Wu, Wu Min Huan, the Sect Master's disciple. Since the Sect Master is in closed-door cultivation and his head disciple, senior martial brother Yu, also isn't available, he is the one to decide in this matter. Anyway, the Elders were of the same opinion."

"I see." Jing Yi furrowed his brows and turned to look at Qiu Ling. "I guess we can't take a mission then if it's so dangerous …"

Qiu Ling beamed at him in return. "Don't worry about it, my love! I'll keep you safe!"

The woman rolled her eyes. "If you want to take on a mission, you still can. It's just that you'll have to talk to your Master for that. They'll see which missions are available and won't pose too much of a danger. I'll have to warn you though: If you two are trying to go on a mission … just for two you'll have trouble getting one. Most missions they give out nowadays are group missions and there will at least be one of the head disciples of the Elders leading the group if it's not an Elder themselves."

Qiu Ling's expression fell while Jing Yi shook his head.

"That's not a problem. I just want to gain some experience to further my cultivation. Although … I don't have a Master. Who would I need to ask instead?" After all, he really didn't feel right asking Grandmaster Zhangsun for such a seemingly simple matter. That … would truly be like taking a sledgehammer to crack a nut.