"What?" The Heavenly Emperor lowered his hand and stared at Shun Tao. Why was the Fate’s Scribe looking like that? Don’t tell him … He clenched his fists.

Qiu Ling trembled. So it was true? But how could this be! This shouldn’t be!

Bai Fen hugged him, pressed his forehead onto her shoulder and patted his head. "It’s alright. Nothing has happened to him. I’m sure of it. A mother would know."

"I … I have to go. I have to see him." Qiu Ling wanted to pull away but Bai Fen held him as tight as she could. If something really happened to her son, she definitely wouldn’t let his lover run out now. He might never come back! Jing He loved him so much. Even if he was dead he would want Qiu Ling to live on. She couldn’t let anything happen to him. "Fate’s Scribe! Why are you keeping quiet?! Tell us what happened already!"

Shun Tao shook himself out of his daze and nodded. "To answer Your Majesty: His Highness is alive. He wasn’t hurt with the soul-devouring dagger either."

Qiu Ling and Bai Fen both heaved a sigh of relief.

"So he’s alright …" Qiu Ling held onto the Heavenly Empress. Thankfully. Thankfully! Jing He was alright. Ah, but damn! This had been too close. Just because he had craved to see him again he had almost lost him. He almost would have been left with nothing but a soulless husk. He should have never returned to the Nine Heavens just to see Jing He’s immortal body. Qiu Ling tightened his grip on the Heavenly Empress. How could he have been so dumb?

Before Qiu Ling had time to spiral further into his regret Shun Tao cleared his throat and furled the scroll of fate again. "There is one more thing, Your Majesty."

The Heavenly Emperor slapped the armrest of his throne "Damn it, Fate’s Scribe! Can you get everything out at once?! Speak already!"

Shun Tao’s lips twitched. It wasn’t like he had wanted to pause, alright? Hadn’t that Longjun interrupted him? Well, it wasn’t like he could say that. The Heavenly Emperor was angry enough as it was. "It seems like … His Highness finally managed to complete a medium trial."

Bai Fen tensed. "What is this about? Jing He has already been gone for more than a week! He should have long passed some trials."

Rong Su coughed. Right. His wife didn’t know yet. She had only come after they had talked about that part. "Uh … It’s a little complicated." He didn’t know what else to say and looked at his brother-of-law pleadingly.

Qiang Yan sighed and turned to his sister. "Somehow, the fate the Fate’s Scribe wrote for him has gone off track. Jing He couldn’t complete any of his trials until now. Because this young lady there was afraid the Fate’s Scribe would be heavily punished and because somebody," he added with a glance at Yin Lin Lin, "told her that everything could be solved if she injured Jing He’s mortal reincarnation with the soul-devouring dagger, she stole the weapon and tried to assassinate him. That was how all of this came about."

The Fate’s Scribe injected before anyone else could speak up. "I can’t read the whole situation from His Highness’ scroll of fate but it seems like Hong Bao injured the wrong person. A while ago Zhong Lei, the father of His Highness’ mortal reincarnation, died rather mysteriously. It seems likely she injured this Zhong Lei instead of her actual target Zhong Jing Yi."

The Heavenly Emperor closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. "So you’re saying that the woman who tried to assassinate our son instead helped him pass his first trial and saved his life through that?"

"Uh …" Shun Tao glanced at the scroll of fate again. As unlikely as it might sound but … "Yes, that seems to be the case."

"It’s just a medium trial, though," injected Qiang Yan. "If he only passes this one he’ll still be punished by Heaven."

The Heavenly Emperor nodded gravely. That was also true. One medium trial … That meant he wouldn’t die but his punishment would still be heavy. Most likely, he would lose at least half of his powers and maybe even receive heavy corporal punishment. It could very well be that his son would lose one of his senses.

Rong Su sighed. In a sense, the thing this woman did was to their advantage. But they couldn’t count on luck for the rest of Jing He’s trial period. He had to at least pass one major trial to be safe from harsh punishment. "Just who is behind all this …"

Everyone bore grave expressions, pondering who could be the culprit.

In the silence in the throne room, Bai Fen perked up. She slowly turned her head and looked at the head of dark hair on her shoulder. She opened her lips but hesitated. She could imagine it but … Would he do something like this?

She cleared her throat and patted his shoulder, making him lift his head.

"What is it, mother-in-law?"

Bai Fen coughed. Could he not use that address with her when other people were around? "Longjun, let me ask you a question. When you followed my son to the mortal realm what did you do?"

Qiu Ling’s expression lit up. Would he finally be able to tell his parents-in-law about the good deeds he had done for their son? He hurriedly schooled his expression and looked at the Heavenly Empress pitifully instead. He couldn’t let her believe that he enjoyed seeing Jing He suffer. "Naturally, I guarded him closely so that nothing bad could happen to him. You don’t know, mother-in-law, but there were many bad things happening around him as if he was haunted by bad luck! So of course, as his future husband, I couldn’t stand back and do nothing. So I lent a helping hand."

Bai Fen’s left eye twitched. Hearing Shun Tao’s summary she had already suspected as much. "What exactly did you do?"

Qiu Ling smiled happily. "I saved his mother’s life twice: Once when she almost died while giving birth to Jing He’s mortal reincarnation and once when she got into an argument with the other villagers. And then when the villagers were talking badly about Jing He’s mortal reincarnation I showed myself to squash the rumors. Oh! And one time his family was attacked by bandits so I defeated them. Really, how dare they attack his mortal family?!" Qiu Ling was filled with righteous indignation.

The Heavenly Emperor’s face turned as black as the bottom of a pot. He slowly stood up, looming over the other people in the room. He wanted to abuse that damned dragon king at least verbally if he couldn’t do anything to him physically. His wife was faster though.

Bai Fen grabbed the ear of her son-in-law. "Longjun! Do you have any idea what you have done?! You almost got my son killed!"

Qiu Ling’s eyes bulged. What? Now it was his fault? How come?! He really didn’t understand these trials of the gods!