Since Shun Tao had made it sound urgent, it only took Qiang Yan a few minutes until he rushed into his study, looking worried. He was sure that this could only be about his nephew so he was immediately overcome with worry. So much had already gone wrong that he didn’t dare to ponder what would happen if something else happened. Would his nephew even be able to finish his trial at all? If not, then his life or at least his well-being might be in danger.

"What happened?!"

Shun Tao waved him over and motioned for him to sit down. "I’ve also asked the God of Justice to come over. Let’s wait a moment so I won’t have to explain twice."

Qiang Yan nodded and took a deep breath to calm down. It wouldn’t help anybody if he panicked. Anyway, since Shun Tao was still sitting there rather leisurely, it should be alright. At the very least, Jing He’s life wasn’t in immediate danger.

Qiang Yan hadn’t sat down for even a minute when Li Yin appeared in the doorframe, raising his brows at the two of them. "It seems that something serious has happened again."

Shun Tao nodded and motioned at the other chair. "Come in and have a seat. There’s something I need to talk about with the two of you."

Li Yin motioned for the servant that had brought him over to close the door behind him and then sat down next to Qiang Yan. He didn’t bother to say anything else and just looked at Shun Tao, waiting for him to explain.

"It is not directly the crown prince’s trial that I’m worried about this time. You know that Leng Jin Yu is in the mortal world to make sure nothing happens on that front. A while ago, he contacted me, asking me to send somebody of the dragon race down there. It appears that Longjun was been injured."

Qiang Yan’s brows raised and his mind couldn’t help but churn. He knew very well just how strong his nephew’s lover was. There was no way that he would get injured easily. Even he himself would have a hard time doing this. Heavens, he might not even be able to do it! "Could it be that the demons sneak attacked him?"

Shun Tao shook his head. "It doesn’t seem like it but Leng Jin Yu didn’t go into too many details. As far as I know, it was most likely an accident. But he wasn’t there at that time so it is not sure I guess. You’d have to ask him if you want to know."

Qiang Yan nodded and then glanced at Li Yin.

The God of Justice had a thoughtful expression on his face. "This matter is certainly quite interesting for the God of War. But what am I doing here? The dragon king being injured isn’t anything good but nothing I could help with. So what else happened?"

Shun Tao sighed. "So far, nothing else has happened but I’m afraid that it might. You see, after I contacted adviser Qiang Wei and he went down to the mortal realm to meet with Leng Jin Yu he apparently also called over adviser An Bai to make sure that Longjun was alright. The two of them said that they would try to treat him but that it wasn’t completely sure they would be able to help him."

"It seems that this is more serious than we thought then. In that case, shouldn’t you rather tell the Heavenly Emperor?"

Shun Tao’s lips twitched. "Believe me, I haven’t forgotten about that. I’ll do that as soon as we’ve talked about things. It is just that I’d like your input on this before I go. After all, this matter is rather delicate."

Qiang Yan nodded. "You’re also still under house arrest, aren’t you?" This had to be awkward for Shun Tao. He could leave his palace once a day to go and report but if he wanted to leave outside of that, he always had to send somebody and ask for an audience. And with everything that kept happening … It didn’t help either that his brother-in-law had that irascible temper. It didn’t make it easier to go and inform him of such things.

Qiang Yan sighed and gave a wry smile. This matter was important and he could imagine that Rong Su would react even worse since it also had to do with Qiu Ling. Shun Tao likely wouldn’t be able to deal with it. "If you want to, I can accompany you later when you go over to tell him."

"That would be very much appreciated." Shun Tao was thankful for him to offer this. They both knew very well that this wasn’t actually about him being under house arrest but more about the way the Heavenly Emperor would likely react. After all, Tianjun would certainly not care about Longjun. In fact, with how he was, he might just laugh in his face and tell him that he should just pretend not to know since it was a 'good thing' that karma had finally gotten that 'damned dandy'. Ah, just thinking about this …

The God of Justice sighed and crossed his arms in front of his chest. "Well, if you’re being such a good example then I guess I won’t get around coming with you.

"Alright, now what is the other matter you spoke about? We should clear this up as soon as possible and then decide how we want to deal with this. If we are able to show a united front in the face of the Heavenly Emperor, it will be easier to convince him." Or, well, blackmail him if nothing else helped. Thankfully, he had a trump card in hand should it really come to this.