Leng Jin Yu nodded again. He had thought as much. If the Law of Balance wasn’t upheld, then naturally, Heaven would try to obliterate the one not conforming to the law. It didn’t matter whether the crown prince had done so deliberately or not.

Shun Tao sighed. "His Highness is a very conscientious person. Normally, he would have attempted the trial at the best time which would have been before he came of age. It’s just that the Heavenly Emperor …" He sighed again. "He dotes on him very much and thus he naturally worries about his well-being so he might not have wanted him to attempt the trial too early on.

"His Highness also knows this so he probably waited until the Heavenly Emperor brought the subject up on his own and only then did he signalize he wanted to attempt it. That leaves us on a tight schedule. If he doesn’t complete the trial or only completes part of it, then there won’t be time to try again. Heaven will punish him immediately. In the worst case, this will result in death. In the best case … he might just lose some of his senses or part of his magic."

"That best case …"

"That best case could be achieved if he at least passes some minor trials."

"I’ve heard of the different grades. A minor trial should be something pertaining to emotions, shouldn’t it? Fear? Anger? Greed?"

Shun Tao nodded. "Yes. Every kind of emotion that influences single decisions but won’t have any long-lasting consequences."

"That doesn’t sound as if it would be too difficult to achieve."

Shun Tao smiled wryly. "We’re talking about minor trials here. Normally, those would naturally come up and wouldn’t be written down in the person’s scroll of fate. Unfortunately, Zhong Jing Yi has grown up in a secure environment, with loving parents that give him everything he needs. He has hardly any other contact so where would this kind of emotion come from? Until this day, the boy hasn’t even stumbled over something while walking!"

Leng Jin Yu furrowed his brows. "The Fate’s Scribe thinks someone is interfering with the trial to this extent?"

Shun Tao got up from his seat and paced up and down behind his desk. "I can’t see any other explanation. The scroll of fate was prepared. I even put some more trials in there so His Highness might fulfill Heaven’s requirements in just one attempt! Even if he didn’t manage to pass all, he should be able to pass some and thus return without harm.

"But until now … Nothing. He has grown to be a nine-year-old boy but not a single trial was passed. The scroll of fate keeps changing as if by itself and when I write a new trial something will prevent it from happening too. It’s maddening!"

Leng Jin Yu stared at the cup of tea in front of him and picked it up, his gaze thoughtful.

"I thought it was one of the idle gods. Someone who wanted to get my position but if Hong Bao didn’t get everything wrong, then it was none of them."

Leng Jin Yu shook his head. "I doubt it’s one of them."

Shun Tao stopped walking and looked at Leng Jin Yu in confusion. "Why?"

"You are heading the Palace of the Fate’s Scribe. Your position isn’t anything that easily gotten. You yourself should know this best. Even if His Highness returned from his trial and got punished because your prepared fate had failed, you might be demoted but the person to succeed you definitely wouldn’t be an idle god. It would be someone from your palace, someone who has been working there for many years and has the experience and knowledge to be able to take up your duties."

"You’re underestimating the weight His Highness has in the Heavenly Emperor’s heart. If this matter got out before His Highness returns and everyone from my palace tries to salvage the situation without result, then the Heavenly Emperor would make an exception and give the position to the person that steps forward and comes up with a solution."

Leng Jin Yu sipped the tea and smiled. "I might be underestimating the weight His Highness has in the Heavenly Emperor’s heart but you might also be overestimating the idle gods. Most of them are there because they lack in skill. A lot of them are young so that is forgivable but it doesn’t change the fact that they are less skilled.

"If one of them had the skill to change someone’s fate just like that and have even the Fate’s Scribe himself be at a loss, then they wouldn’t be idle gods anymore. They would have long been noticed and taken into your palace, climbing the ranks faster than anyone else. Maybe you would even be grooming that person to become your successor already."

Shun Tao’s lips parted but he didn’t say anything for a moment. What this Leng Jin Yu said sounded sensible but … "It might be an ascended deity. A lot of them were cultivators before, good at hiding their true self and their capabilities. Furthermore, the person might disdain to go the regular path. Some of them are arrogant."

Leng Jin Yu nodded. "There certainly are people like that. But never mind the fact that I haven’t seen anyone with such a personality, it’s also not common for an ascended deity to know so much about fate. Or about the trials for that matter.

"I’ve been here for two months. And I barely managed to gather the types of trials one has to take. I wouldn’t have known about the age requirement. And I certainly wouldn’t know about the scrolls of fate and how to manipulate a mortal’s fate so that the scroll would change.

"Actually, I’m wondering whether it would even be possible to change His Highness’ fate this much without knowing what is written in the scroll of fate. How would the person know what to prevent from happening?"

Shun Tao frowned. "The scribes have ways to see what is happening in the mortal realm. Just knowing the kind of trials there are and keeping an eye on the happenings in Zhong Jing Yi’s life would be enough."

"But who can monitor His Highness’ reincarnation for that long? One person certainly doesn’t seem able to do something like this. So maybe … this is a group of people instead?"

yansusustories

Chapter 100, yay! I guess since you've managed to read this far, I should come clean about the project ;)

So there are actually two versions of "Oh. My. Fate?!". The first one is at about 550 chapters currently and still running. It's the not-so-nice version with lots of mistakes, awkward writing and less details but in case you're super curious about the plot you can read it on my website (www.yansusustories.com) or on my Wattpad account.
The version here on Scribble Hub is the revised version that is far behind story-wise but much better to read ;) I've finished 107 chapters of this version so there'll be one or two more days with several updates before we''ll continue with my actual upload schedule of 1 chapter/day. I might be uploading a little more after I've finished my other project, LWS, but we'll see about that when the time comes (in ~2-3 month's time).

I'm also slowly adding to the Glossary of this series here in Scribble Hub in case you forget about something and want to have a simple way of brushing up your memory. If there's something you're missing in it, tell me and I'll write an entry for it. ;)

If there are any other questions about the project, please feel free to ask. And, well, I also take comments that aren't questions :p