From what I understand, Jiling is essentially the vessel of the Chiwen/Dragon god so in many ways he’s no different…
I think that jiling was chiwen's past because didn't chiwen say that jiling was the part of his childhood he wanted to keep the most? they also speculated that chiwen wasn't actually the dragon deity. I kinda agree because only dragons can kill dragons and chiwen never accepts food from outside ppl so chiwen feels kinda sus here