Shun Tao cleared his throat. "Well, thinking about people that hate me enough to do this, there would be one. But I also doubt it could be her. She doesn’t have that kind of influence."

Leng Jin Yu looked at him contemplatively. "Are you sure about that?"

"Mn. She’s a trueborn goddess called Yin Lin Lin. She doesn’t have a position she could use in this situation."

Leng Jin Yu’s brows raised. The person the Fate’s Scribe thought of immediately was a woman out of all people? He certainly wouldn’t have expected this. As far as he knew, the Fate’s Scribe wasn’t in any relationship and there weren’t any rumors regarding that either even though a lot of the women in the Nine Heavens seemed to like him. Hong Bao certainly wasn’t an exception.

Leng Jin Yu took a look at Shun Tao’s face again. Well, he probably counted as good-looking. His face didn’t stand out too much but was nice to look at. He seemed like a man one could trust. Someone dependable and faithful that would treat his wife kindly and give her the attention she needed. The women probably all thought he’d be a good husband?

Shun Tao coughed when he saw Leng Jin Yu’s look. He certainly never would have thought he’d be discussing this with an ascended deity one day. Or, well, discuss this with anyone. "Actually, it’s an embarrassing story. Yin Lin Lin is the previous God of War’s only daughter so she’s a little … demanding. When she signaled some interest, she naturally expected me to feel honored and take her up by the offer but …" He raised his brows and looked away, lifting his own cup of tea to hide.

Leng Jin Yu nodded. He could imagine how things had turned out. "In that case, she would at least have a motive."

"But is that really enough? Just because I rejected her?"

Leng Jin Yu lifted a hand. "Who knows? This is disappointing her expectations. Depending on how serious she was about you, it could be even graver than someone who would like to get a better position."

"That’s true." Shun Tao sighed. Surprisingly, there were people who might try to discredit him. It stung a little thinking about that. "But I still can’t imagine that Yin Lin Lin is the one behind this. It’s been quite some time since I rejected her. Wouldn’t she have acted much sooner if she felt that hurt? And even if she wanted to do it … I don’t think she has that influence. Her father has fallen long ago. The only reason most people wouldn’t dare to go against her is that she’s especially unreasonable." Well, and her relationship with the Heavenly Emperor was a little delicate but he certainly wouldn’t gossip about that.

"Then is there anybody else?"

Shun Tao shook his head. "No. She’s the only one I can think of."

"That Yin Lin Lin’s relationship with the current God of War … How is it?"

Shun Tao’s brows raised. "Why?"

"Well, we aren’t any further. The idle gods aren’t behind this mess. The scribes are likely considering their knowledge and experience but you can’t think of anyone with a motive among them. That Yin Lin Lin has a motive but probably not the means. As just two people we can’t check on both sides and considering the familial background of that Yin Lin Lin it might be difficult to investigate her anyway. It would be best to get someone to do this in our stead."

Shun Tao frowned. "As I’ve said, the God of War is the Heavenly Emperor’s brother-in-law. If we tell him —"

"We don’t have to."

Shun Tao’s brows shot up. "You want to … lie to the God of War? If you do that, you can forget to ever get into his palace. He’s someone who’s particular about trust."

Leng Jin Yu took a deep breath. "If that would save the Nine Heavens, I would take the gamble. But that doesn’t have to be the case anyway. We only have to bring it up … in the right way."

"You’re meaning is …"

"Tell him a problem cropped up with your work and that it might either be someone from your palace in a high position, that Yin Lin Lin or even both of them together. You’re unable to investigate this alone so you thought of using someone from the courtyard of the idle gods to bring into your palace but it turned out to be more difficult than you thought. Thus you request his help because of his relationship with the trueborn goddess Yin Lin Lin."

Shun Tao stared at the seemingly young man opposite him and couldn’t help but feel astonished. "That is … rather sneaky."

"I’m an ascended deity. As you said a lot of us are used to hiding our abilities. I’ve never tried to but I was involved in some matters regarding the cultivation sect I was part of. I’ve picked some tricks up."

Shun Tao nodded. "I guess we won’t have any other choice. Well, even if he finds out that this concerns His Highness … I’ll have to tell the Heavenly Emperor anyway."

"Which is why I’d suggest you send me and I’ll tell him that your purpose for employing Hong Bao for the task of monitoring the courtyard of the idle gods was for the sake of solving this problem. Even if it comes out that this is about the Son of Heaven, you will at least be able to say that you were trying to salvage the situation."

Shun Tao smiled wryly. "Don’t think it’ll be so easy. I would have been required to report to the Heavenly Emperor immediately in such a case."

"Would you?"

Shun Tao raised his brows. "What do you mean?"

"If this wasn’t about the Son of Heaven, nobody would expect you to report immediately on this, wouldn’t they? Taking care of the fate of a god on their trial is your task. Nobody would expect anybody else to work on a trial that has gotten off-track. Certainly, the Heavenly Emperor will be furious but his fury might deplete a little if he knows that you’ve worked diligently on solving the problem. It’ll be of great help that the person involved in this will be his own brother-in-law. He can’t punish him too, can he?"

Shun Tao’s mouth opened and closed right away. This person … was way deeper than he would have thought! If Leng Jin Yu really wanted to blackmail him because of his knowledge, then he wouldn’t have been able to get out of it. He could really be happy that that hadn’t been what Leng Jin Yu wanted.