At the same time, in the secret realm connected to the Leyuan region, Yu Jin gave a sigh and looked at the young man lying on the ground next to him with a pale face. He had already tried his best to shield him from the explosion but in the end, he had still been slightly injured. The hem of his sleeves was ripped and there were some cuts on his hands and face. Considering the scale of the explosion he could be said to have gotten off fairly lightly though. The biggest problem would probably be the impact the spiritual energy had had on him.

Yu Jin reached over and lightly took Jing Yi’s pulse. As soon as he felt the energy inside, his brows lifted slightly. Being caught in the middle of a disturbance of that scale and then being thrown through a small crack in the array surrounding a secret realm but still not having your spiritual veins damaged … Was this the impact the soul of a trueborn god had? But that shouldn’t be. Spiritual veins weren’t tied to the soul but rather to the body. In his human life, his immortal soul shouldn’t have had made a difference. At least not such a big one.

Yu Jin took his hand back and stopped thinking about the problem. It was good as long as the Son of Heaven wasn’t irrevocably hurt. If not for the fact that a spiritual energy disturbance brought about by a Jade Gathering Beast would have been able to bring harm to his soul, too, he wouldn’t even have interfered at all.

Wouldn’t that have been a great opportunity for a trial? He could imagine how happy the Fate’s Scribe would have been once he opened the crown prince’s scroll of fate and saw him hurt by a man-made calamity. A trial of betrayal, a trial of pain … It really was a pity that the crown prince had once again missed out on it.

Yu Jin sighed once more and stood up. It didn’t matter. Being in this secret realm might be a good opportunity in itself. After all, that troublesome dragon king wasn’t with them so there was no one that could ruin anything. Whether it was hindering Jing Yi’s progress in cultivation or making sure that he suffered through a hard time inside the secret realm to pass some minor trials, there was nobody that could mess it up.

Yu Jin closed his eyes. In all honesty, he felt bad about this. He hadn’t interacted much with him but whether it was the few short days in the capital when Jing Yi had affectionately taken care of the dragon king when he was unconscious and trapped in his own inner self or the even shorter amount of time when he had seen Jing Yi at the Hei Dian Sect and then accompanied Qiu Ling and him over to the Leyuan region he always had had a good impression of him.

This boy really was such a nice child. He was honest and caring and open-minded with morals he held fast to. He definitely didn’t deserve such suffering. Even though he would wake up as the Son of Heaven later on and then understand that all of this had just been a trial he had had to undertake, it would still be a tragic experience for the mortal Jing Yi. And wasn’t he also a person?

But there was nothing he could do. The God of War had already assigned him to help the Fate’s Scribe whose task was making this child suffer out of all things.

Yes, indeed, this person who seemed to be the favorite disciple of the Yun Zou Sect’s Sect Master Yuchi Bing Xia was, in fact, none other than the ascended deity Leng Jin Yu who had come back to the mortal world to make sure that Jing He’s trial would be successful and not meet with another mishap.

He didn’t really want to since he had gotten to know him but there was nothing he could do. Even if it wasn’t the Fate’s Scribe’s task to take care of the trial they couldn’t just leave everything to fate. After all, without passing the required trials the Son of Heaven would be the one to suffer the consequences. That was probably even worse than having this mortal boy go through all this. After all, the gods couldn’t lose their Son of Heaven.

Just while Leng Jin Yu was struggling with his role in all of this, Jing Yi’s eyelids fluttered until he finally opened his eyes. The sun blinded him for a moment and he closed his eyes again and turned his face to the side. "Qiu Ling?" He instinctively called out for his fiance and even lifted his hand to try and find him.

Yu Jin opened his eyes and turned back toward him. Losing his fiance for an undetermined amount of time might very well be a trial of its own already. "He isn’t here."

Jing Yi slowly sat up and turned toward the voice only to find Yu Jin standing next to him while everyone else had disappeared. "Senior martial brother Yu?"

Yu Jin nodded, not saying anything else. He observed Jing Yi for a while longer and slowly, determination suffused his gaze. Even if this boy hated him later on, he’d make sure that he passed enough trials while being imprisoned in this secret realm. If he did so, then whatever he wanted to do after getting out of here wouldn’t be a problem.

Marrying the dragon king? Returning to the capital to be with his mother? Taking over the teahouse and living an ordinary life, having a few years of happiness? Why shouldn’t he have that? He just had to pass his trials first and get through a dark time in his life, then he could be like everyone else. Like a normal person who wasn’t burdened by his past life.

Just like he himself.